The Lone Swordsman

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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:17 am

USED Strength Training
1002 words
"Again! You're too weak." The voice of the old samurai rang throughout the training ground. He envied his granddaughter who was still young and capable of hard training like this. He was also a little ashamed at how weak his young pupil was. He'd trained her for speed and she'd eventually garnered the speed necessary to unleash what could truly be called Iaido strikes, but he'd neglected her strength. Most samurai develop strength as they hone their body, but Niku's body seemed content with just speed. He now had to fix that. "Speed is important, but strength can be the difference between a fatal blow and a paper cut. Again!"

Niku's thin arms quivered as she attempted to shake the fatigue out of the muscles. Her hands moved once again to the metal sword at her hip. Calling it a sword might be a little misleading, the weapon was constructed nearly the same as a wooden sword, an item used by beginners to ensure they don't cut themselves. This metal variety was being used as a weight to help increase Niku's strength. She placed her left hand on her belt, as if holding the sheath of the blade. Her right drifted to the handle of the weapon and in an instant the weapon swung through the air before returning to its position on her hip.

Niku's little body tired of the training. She also felt that it made her look bad, because of the weight, her draws were no where near as fast as they should be. She wondered if anyone thought she was some little kid playing out here. After resetting, her right hand drew the heavy metal object again. The sound of it hurtling through the air and then returning to her hip could be heard as it made more noise than any real sword would.

A quick glance to her grandfather revealed the frown on his face. That look was more motivating than any words he could have yelled at her. She drew the heavy object 5 more times in quick succession as if trying to viciously murder the air in front of her. "Enough! Every morning and every evening, draw that weapon 100 times. And carry it with you everywhere you go." After those words, the two went back to being granddaughter and grandfather, rather than teacher and pupil.

The next morning, Niku got up and went straight for the heavy blunt object. Without thinking, she placed a belt around her hip and holstered the weapon. Her left hand went to the belt at her hip, as if holding an imaginary sheath, and her right hand moved to the weapon's handle. She drew the weapon, causing the signature noise once more. One," escaped her lips as her right hand moved to the handle once more. As if on instinct, her right hand drew the weapon from her belt, sending the tip hurtling through the air at breakneck speeds. Almost as quickly, she returned the object to where it began, beside her left hip. "Two." Once she'd completed all hundred strikes, she went about her normal business with that metal object on her hip throughout the day.

Later that evening before retiring to her bed, she readied herself for drawing the metal object once more. Niku's legs and hips were already a little sore, though she didn't realize it was from carrying the object around all day. Her hands took their place and she drew and "resheathed" the weapon on her hip. "One," was released from her lips as she shook her arm... it was still tired from all the new exercise it was getting. "Two," escaped her lips as she continued her practicing.

A couple weeks later, "Sixty eight," she pronounced as her right hand "resheathed" the weapon to her left hip. Her grandfather's instruction was something Niku had grown to appreciate and trust in; after all, it had helped her become the shinobi she was. Despite that, she wasn't sure this training was working: A little doubt is normal, right? she thought to herself as she continued. "Sixty nine."

A month later, "One," Niku announced as the flash of her draw came and went. "Two," it almost seemed easy now. "Three," another flash of metal comes and goes. Despite her initial doubts, Niku had to admit that swinging this metal object had become easier and her draws with it had become much more akin to her draws with her swords, Heads and Tails. This simply reinforced the trust she had in her grandfather. Minutes later, "A hundred," as the last flash came and went. She shook her arm, surprised at how little she felt the soreness that she'd gotten used to feeling over the last month.

Hours later, "Let me see it," the old samurai demanded. The girl drew the metal sword into thin air and quickly "resheathed" it at her side. "On the dummy, now," the old man claimed, successfully hiding his pride in his pupil. Niku moved forward to the dummy, unsure of what this blunt object could do against such a sturdy dummy. With her left hand in position, her right hand grabbed the handle and drew the weapon towards the dummy, as if she were drawing a real sword. The weapon crashed into the wooden dummy and Niku placed it back into the loop on her belt. Had it been a real sword, her blade would have easily sliced the dummy in two, but this heavy bat did little to the dummy. "That's enough, head home."

"Alright," she announced, seemingly dejected. The old samurai watched his granddaughter slink away, knowing that she was depressed about how ineffective the training had been. He moved to the dummy and with a single finger pushed slightly. The dummy crumpled over, the damage caused by Niku's strike now terribly evident. "Still a ways to go," he mused before a small grin crossed his face. He headed home as well, planning new methods to increase his granddaughter's deadliness.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:18 am

USED Taijutsu Training
819 words
The note by her bedside was pretty clear, so Niku made her way to the training ground as instructed. She didn't know what type of training her grandfather had come up with now, but she had confidence that it would make her stronger. The metal bat training was gruesome and she was only a couple days into it. Her arms felt like jelly all the time, but she knew that given time it would yield results, as all of her grandfather's training had. In her class in the academy, she was one of the best swordsmen and that was all due to her grandfather. Her skills in the other ninja arts were lacking, understandably so, but she could rely on her grandfather's teachings.

"Bout time, get over here." Her grandfather urged her over. "On this plank, draw this symbol," he commanded. She looked around briefly, but didn't find any sort of writing utensil. A slow growl escaped her grandfather's throat, drawing Niku's attention to him. "... with your wakizashi!" With that hint, Niku understood what she was supposed to do.

She stepped back from the plank, letting both of her hands drift into their position. The left hand held the sheath by her left hip while the right hand held the wakizashi's handle. She drew it, attempting to create a vertical line in the plank which matched the symbol her grandfather was holding. After resheathing the blade, she zeroed in on the symbol before redrawing her blade. The metal slashed into the plank, leaving a small, but noticeable line in the plank. "Terrible! Start again." He threw the plank to the ground and set up another one. The symbol had about 8 lines and he was unhappy by the second one... this might take awhile.

A few hours and numerous planks later, "Keep going, accuracy is one of the most important traits for a samurai." Niku's right hand drifted to her blade's handle and drew the blade towards the wood. The tip slid into and out of the wood effortlessly, making a small but noticeable mark. She repeated the action three more times, believing that she'd completed the symbol pretty well. "Not bad, one decent one out of thirty is nothing to be proud of... keep going!" Niku moved to the next plank and started again. Draw after draw, her sword struck the wood with all of its ferocity.

After a week, Niku was capable of creating the symbol one out of every five tries. Every now and then an errant draw would occur and cause her symbol to be messed up. Sometimes, one of the lines was a little crooked or tilted the wrong direction. Sometimes the lines just didn't cross where they were supposed, but one out of every five was near perfect. "Not bad, but we're not aiming to make this symbol. You should be able to make any symbol on your first try... next symbol!" Before Niku realized, there was another symbol next to the blank plank and her grandfather looked on expectantly.

Another week passed and Niku was capable of recreating any symbol her grandfather placed before her. Of course, she rarely did it on her first try. Usually, Niku was successful by her third or fourth try, but she had some pride in her work, even if her grandfather expected more out of her. Every day, besides doing her regular training regimen and any team meetings, Niku spent an hour simply drawing her blade into wooden planks. Draw after draw, she just kept at it. She was tired and bored, but she knew her grandfather had a goal in mind and trusted his guidance. She drew and continued creating symbol after symbol.

Nearly a month later, Niku's right hand drifted to her blade's hilt while her left drifted to the sheath of the blade. Her right swiftly and gracefully lurched forward, withdrawing the deadly blade from its home. The blade's tip hurtled through the air at amazing speeds before easily being embedded into the plank in front of Niku. Within a moment, the tip was removed and hurtled back towards Niku before disappearing into its home, the sheath on Niku's left hip. After a single exhale, Niku repeated the same procedure and drew her blade once more. This time, however, she purposely made a horizontal slash, as opposed to the vertical one she just made. This was done with a simple twist of the wrist. The blade's tip, once again, wedged itself into the wood before returning to its sheath. With another breath, Niku repeated the procedure again, this time making a shorter slash into the plank than the first two.

Just a couple draws later and the symbol was completed. "Good," her grandfather said, though his tone was somewhat monotone. Deep down, Niku knew that he was pleased with her progress and she was excited to use her new skills to her advantage.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Jan 14, 2016 5:44 pm

JutsuShow
[Iaido • Side Draw]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
After extensive training, Niku has mastered a one-handed, Iaido draw utilizing the hand located on the same side of the body as the sheathed blade, rather than the traditional cross-body draw. To do this, she utilizes a reverse grip causing the resulting slash to be vertical, but it retains Iaido's characteristic speed, though resheathing takes more time than traditional draws.
1033/940

As awesome as Niku felt that Iaido was, even Niku could see a fatal flaw in its usage. It relied entirely on her right arm. In other words, an injury to her right arm or shoulder could completely incapacitate her ability to fight. Not to mention, the ability to fire off lightning speed draws from only one side of the body limited its versatility and made the attacks somewhat predictable. If Niku could somehow learn to utilize her left hand to draw the blade, it would increase her versatility and attack patterns dramatically. Not only would this allow her to attack more evenly, it would also give her an ability to attack even if her right arm were injured somehow. That was reason enough to learn to draw a blade with her left hand.

The young girl made her way to the training ground. Her wakizashi was, uncharacteristically, strapped to her right hip. She felt awkward as she walked like she were off balance or limping. Standing in front of the dummy, she let her right hand drift down to the sheath. It felt awkward, but she kept it there and moved her left hand to the hilt of her blade. Niku's left hand drew the blade to the best of its ability. The drawing motion was so clunky feeling that she didn't even try to quickly sheath her blade, a signature of Iaido. She knew the concepts of Iaido like the back of her hand, but the previous draw with her off hand felt nothing like it should. While drawing with her right hand, it felt graceful, smooth, and easy. Intellectually, she realized that it was smooth and easy because of all the practice she had done drawing with that hand. However, physically, she just felt incredibly goofy when she drew with the left hand. She was glad her grandfather wasn't there, she was sure he'd be displeased with her ridiculous attempt at Iaido.

Once again, she let her right hand hold the sheath and her left hand slightly gripped the handle of her blade. After exhaling, Niku's left hand pulled the blade from its sheath and sent the sharp edge forward. As before, it felt clunky and awkward, but she knew that it would become smoother with more practice. Her hand pulled the blade back, preparing to resheath the blade. As she moved the tip towards the sheath, she missed the opening of the sheath, almost slicing her own hand. She dropped the blade, letting it clang on the ground. Her determination wavered as she realized how close she'd been to removing the fingers of her drawing hand. Without those fingers, her life as a swordsman and a shinobi would be over.

She bent over and picked up the sword, using her left hand to slowly resheath the blade on her right hip. She looked at the dummy, contemplating if she was on the right track or if she should give up. She strengthened her resolve and turned her hands back to their positions to allow Niku to draw with her left hand. After exhaling, she drew the blade, to the best of her ability. She purposely slowed as she resheathed the blade. She figured speed would come with experience, as it had with her right hand. She remained at the training ground for another hour, before deciding to turn in for the evening.

The young lady decided to add left handed drawing to her morning and evening training regimen. She knew that with enough experience, she would be capable of utilizing her left hand just as effectively as her right, though she was fully aware that it had taken years to become as competent as she was with her right. That would only happen if she practiced. Her left hand gripped the hilt once more and drew the blade towards the dummy, still feeling clunky and slow.

"Stop right there!" erupted from behind her. The voice was quite forceful, but also enraged. Niku did as instructed, recognizing the voice as her grandfather, and slowly turned towards him, her left hand still clutching the sword. "What do you think you're doing, Nikuya?" It wasn't often that he used her full name; he was really mad.

"I just thought it'd make me stronger if I could, draw with both hands..." her tone was somewhat whiny, as if she didn't want to say anything but she also didn't want to upset the man any more than he already was. The samurai came forward, standing six feet from his granddaughter. He simply stared at her. On one hand, he was impressed with her initiative, but was also displeased with her unwillingness to come to him about this. Finally breaking the stare down, the old man sighed, then spoke "Well, you're doing it wrong. Put the wakizashi back on your left hip," he commanded. Niku was glad that he was going to help her and quickly did as instructed.

"Place your hand on the hilt," came the next instruction. Niku twisted her elbow in a funny manner, trying to grasp the handle in the normal manner. Another sigh escaped the elderly samurai, before he spoke "... in a reverse grip." The young kunoichi turned her hand around, allowing her elbow to sit in a more natural position. "Now, similar to a normal draw, use your hand to guide the blade towards your intended target. Do not try to resheath it quickly." He watched as Niku drew the blade out of its sheath, slicing nothing but air at this point. "One hundred more."

"One," she counted aloud after her next draw.

Moving the wakizashi to her other hip just limits how the weapon can be drawn, he mused as he watched his prize pupil practice.

"Two."

"Keep your elbow in mind," he advised. Indeed, it would be helpful if her right arm is injured.

"Three."

But then the weapon can only be drawn that way.

"Four."

Practicing this draw, allows the blade to be drawn normally or this way.

"Five."

If she can master this, it will definitely make her stronger, the wise samurai thought, holding back the grin that wanted to escape to his lips.

"Six."
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:58 am

Strength - 1020/1000

Niku felt like she'd been neglecting her grandfather, with all the Team 7 activities she'd been taking part in lately. Today was a day of freedom where she could do anything she wanted, so it was a good opportunity to spend time with her grandfather, maybe train some Iaido as well. She was looking forward to it as she dressed, grabbing her swords as the final touches to her wardrobe. Akisu waited by the door, planning to follow along; though the cat usually just lounged around at Niku's grandfather's house. Moments later, the two females were on their way.

"Niku," the samurai greeted his granddaughter, opening his arms to hug her as well. Once the girl stepped back, a characteristic smile on her face, he spoke again. "We have lots of training to catch up on." The two had a certain language to their relationship and it rested heavily on training and their love for Iaido. "Yes sir."

"Put these on," he told the girl, handing her five straps. The girl reached for them and as soon as her grandfather let go, Niku's hand was dragged down by their combined weight. "These are really heavy grandpa," she responded, mostly out of surprise rather than complaint. A chuckle escaped the man's throat. "Yes," was all he said as he kneeled down next to her. He pulled one strap from the pile and placed it around her left ankle, before following suit with the right. "Hand," he requested, before she did as instructed. He placed one strap around her wrist and then did the same on the other one. The final strap was a little longer than the other four and he placed it around her waist. He stood and stepped back, looking at his granddaughter. She wobbled.

"Five laps around the field," he commanded. Niku lifted her right foot, more acclimating to the weight than trying to take a step. she wobbled a little, trying to keep her balance. She then repeated her action with the other foot, placing her left foot in the air as she acclimated to the weight and balance necessary to keep herself from falling. Once that was complete, she took a couple steps forward, feeling the weight. Looking back to her grandfather, she smiled before turning ahead and jogging. It was a slow jog, at first. She felt the weight, it made every step more of a chore. What surprised her, however, was the weights on her arms. Her shoulders were getting sore already just from swinging her arms as one does when they jog or run. I wonder if I can even make it 5 laps, she mused to herself as she picked the pace up a little.

After finishing her first lap, she came to the realization that the waist belt was there for center of gravity, more than true strength training. It kept her balanced a little more easily than without, especially given the swinging weights on her arms and legs. By the third lap, she couldn't handle the pain in her shoulders anymore. Niku dropped her wrists to her side, letting dangle as she continued jogging forward. That last for a couple hundred feet before she moved her hands and the weights to her head, hoping to fully relieve her shoulders of carrying any weight. It worked, but doing so made jogging more difficult. She could feel her legs getting tired and, she was pretty sure, her speed declining.

As her feet slowly moved one in front of the other, her mind wavered and wandered. I'm not going to make it. There's no way, my legs feel like lead and my neck hurts now from carrying my hands. I still feel an ache in my shoulders too. I can't do this... Despite her falling emotional state, her feet kept moving. She wasn't even sure how or why, but they just kept moving, one in front of the other. Finishing her fourth lap, she caught a glimpse of her grandfather's face. it was confident and strong. On the other hand, its only one more lap. He know what he's doing and he knows what I'm capable of. If he thinks I can do this, then surely that means I can. She removed her hands from her head, allowing them swing as they should when one runs. Her pace picked up as well.

As I feared, I've neglected her strength training, her grandfather mused to himself as he watched her jogging the last lap. He felt a small hint of satisfaction when he saw her resume proper running form and even pick the pace up a little. Niku came around the last bend, breathing deeply and struggling to get her feet high enough off the ground to keep from stumbling. She arrived at her grandfather, trying her hardest not to stumble on the last little leg. She stopped, bending at the waist as she tried to catch her breath. "Alright, now 50 draws," he said, pointing towards the dummy. She found it hard to believe that he wanted her to do more, but she trudged over to the dummy.

Her hands found their places, almost on instinct. She drew the blade with rubbery arms. Even the tip of the blade wobbled through the air as she drew it, much slower than her normal drew speed due to the weights and exhaustion. Her focus increased slightly as she returned the blade to the sheath, wanting to make sure she didn't injure herself.

I'm glad my master can't see her now, the old samurai thought, as he reminisced about all of the training his master had put him through. While he'd never tell Niku, he was well aware that his own skills far surpassed her own at that age. Just means I have to train her harder, a small smirk formed at the corner of his mouth.

The sword struggled through the air as Niku drew again. Despite the exhaustion and miserable draws, Niku was supremely confident that her grandfather's training would pay off. She just wished it would pay off today, rather than in months.
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Post by Servant » Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:33 am

Speed - 1050/1000

The Bell Test with Fanho had been an utter disaster, even the usually upbeat Jin would agree. On one hand, Niku was really impressed with how awesome Fanho was, but on the other, she was kind of depressed with how weak and ineffective the three genin had been against him. The only thing she could do now was to keep training. "If I were a little faster, Akisu..." she mused to her caracal as she got dressed. "maybe then I could have changed the outcome." The cat, for her part, moved her head, which Niku took to mean that she agreed. "Now what can I do to get faster?" she asked out loud, hoping for some sort of divine answer or inspiration. Grabbing her swords and putting them on her belt, she headed outside. "Guess I'll just keep with the exercises Grandfather had me doing.

After stretching, Niku took off towards Ichirou's Shack, the place that Jin had taken her the day before. She went as fast as she could, pushing herself to her limits. She never looked back to see the dust billowing in the air because of her feet's quick movements. Once she arrived, she slowed to a much more manageable pace. Grandfather called this interval training, she mused to herself as she slowly jogged away from one of her new favorite places to eat. He said to push yourself hard for awhile, then go easy: doing an interval of hard and one of easy, alternating back and forth. Her feet slowly kept moving, one in front of the other, taking her south, though she had no specific destination in mind in that direction.

Time to bring it up a gear, she decided, putting her foot down with more force and speed than previously. She pushed off the ground and began digging deep, picking up to her max speed. She enjoyed running, which is weird as it allowed her to really use all of her body's energy and, though she'd never admit it, she liked showing off a little. She slowed just slightly as she rounded the corner of a building, leaning her body inwards to keep from tumbling over. Once the turn was finished, she picked up the pace again; feeling the burn as her lungs tried to keep up with the muscles' need for oxygen. She enjoyed the view as she passed by a small pond surrounded by trees. At her speed, she could see past the trees to the water, rippling and reflecting the sun's rays. She felt her body reaching its limit as far as stamina was concerned, so she slowed her pace back down to a slow jog.

She then realized that she'd never been out to this rural area of Konoha. She passed by one of the clan compounds, home of the Nara. Not hailing from a clan, Niku had never really been to a clan compound; she didn't even know where they were all located. That thought brought her back to Hyuuga Hanako, her fellow teammate of Team 7. Her feet slowly but steadily carried her forward, away from the Nara compound; her brain thought about Hanako while her lungs caught up with the demand of her body. She's just so serious, but Jin makes it seem like that's something the Hyuuga have in common. I hope the three of us can make it work out. I'm just not sure Hanako gels well with Jin and I... Coming to the end of the road, Niku turned right, hoping that it would take her back towards a part of the village that she recognized.

After another minute or so, she picked up the pace once again. She found herself reaching her limits much more quickly as all of the running was taking its toll on her muscles and lungs. Despite that, she maintained the higher speed for quite some time. She found herself breathing heavily and pushing herself as she entered into what appeared to be a pretty rich district. She realized quickly that this was the same place her and Isuzu had cleaned up in her last mission. She pushed herself a little more, but, as she left the district in the direction of her own home, she started slowing down. Niku once again chose a slow jog, allowing her body to slow down and return to more normal levels.

Though Niku hadn't planned her route in advance, she was glad that it had turned out to be a loop, rather than having to turn back and rehash the same areas she'd already run through. As she slowly jogged through the relatively busy street, she noticed people buying knick knacks, clothing, and food as she passed them by. She noticed fellow shinobi, like herself, buying things as well, or just strolling from one place to another. She'd nod to them, At least that way they'll know I saw them, she figured, not wanting to be rude.

Niku then realized that she had just over a mile until she got home. If I'm going to get another high speed interval in before I make it home, it has to be now, she mused. Her feet started moving faster, kicking up more dirt than before as they searched for more traction to help propel Niku forward. She felt her hair flapping in the breeze which also made the sweat on her face feel cooler than before. On one hand, it was refreshing, but she was also pushing her body to its limits, so that hand was slightly painful. She pushed herself, striving to make it home at the same speed with which she'd left it. Her legs felt weak, her breathing was labored, but she kept on running. Her home was in view; only a few hundred feet to go, she thought to herself, unable to gasp out the words even if she'd wanted to.

Her feet slid to a stop, just at the little sidewalk that went up to her home. Her chest rose and fell considerably as she tried to inhale more oxygen into her lungs. She felt pretty good about her run and work out, but As my grandfather says, one great workout won't make you strong, one hundred consistent ones will, resigning herself to continue this line of training.
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Post by Servant » Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:57 am

Niku was glad to be out and about; her mom had been dumped so she was mopey and while Niku didn't mind a mopey mom, she wasn't terribly interested in being mopey for the entire week. Unfortunately, Team 7 had no meetings or missions planned, so Niku really had no where to go or anyone to go visit. She'd seen Mafuyu, and her siblings, a couple days before so she considered going there... but she thought maybe it was too soon after having just visited. I could see if Jin is home and free, but I don't want him to think I'm lusting after him. So, for the moment, she just meandered around Konoha, enjoying the sights and sounds that the village had to offer. Of course, she'd never been outside the village, though her grandfather had promised to take her to where he grew up someday. I look forward to that, seeing where Grandpa learned Iaido and became so strong. Maybe I'l get stronger too.

Before she realized where she was, Niku found herself just a block away from the Ichirou's Shack, the place Jin had taken her for lunch the other day. I haven't eaten lunch yet... she mused to herself as she continued in that direction. I wonder if Manami is working, she was nice. By that point, Niku had arrived at the entrance of their restaurant. Oooh, maybe she could tell me some embarrassing stories about Jin. She decided that tt'd be fun to have things to tease Jin about. Even Hanako would get a kick out of it.

Opening the door, Niku saw Manami right there, as if waiting for her. "Oh, you came back! Without Jin, might I add, good choice."

Niku smiled slightly, a light blush crossing her cheeks. "Yeah, it was really good last time and I figured I'd come back to enjoy some more," she left the Jin comment alone for now.

"As long as you come back, you can bring whoever you like," she smiled at Niku. "Or leave out whoever you want," she added, a little under her breath. She was obviously joking with Niku and both ladies laughed at the comment. Manami then took Niku to a small booth and sat her down, giving her a menu in case she wanted to peruse it again. "Want any tea?"

"Yeah, that green tea with honey was good."

"Sure thing, be right back," Manami responded before heading off to prepare the tea for Niku. The young kunoichi grabbed the menu, wondering if she should get what she loved last time or try something different. She was engrossed in reading int he menu, not even noticing Manami return. "Need another minute?" she asked, pouring some tea in a mug for Niku before placing the pitcher on the table.

Niku was a little startled, but looked up at her, putting a smile on her face in an attempt to cover how startled she had been. "Yeah, another minute would be great. Sorry." She apologized for wasting Manami's time, it just seemed like the thing to do.

"Don't be sorry hun, take your time. I'll be back in a minute." Niku watched as Manami moved a few tables over and begin talking with them. Niku was pleased, Jin has such nice and good people like Manami in his life; makes a lot of sense how he turned out to be such a good person himself, she mused, turning back to the menu. Her eyes slid around the page, reading the descriptions and weighing her options. Finally, she settled on an order of steak, two eggs rolls, fried rice, and a bowl of wonton soup.

Just a moment later, Manami came back and opened her mouth. "I'm ready now," Niku answered, cutting off the waitress before she even had a chance to ask. Manami's grin spread across her face as she pulled out a pad to take Niku's order on. After relaying her order to Manami, Niku watched as Manami headed to the cook to relay the order to him.

Niku's mind wandered as she sat there, alone. I'm tired of being weak. Fanho will never see me as a legitimate soulmate if I don't get stronger. I'm sure if I could just get to chuunin, then he'd have to admit that I'm worthy of him. But I couldn't even last 3 minutes in that spar with Yūku and Yozei. I'm no where near ready to become a chuunin. I need to get stronger, and fast. Just not sure how to do it. Hanako is stronger than me too and she was forced to take time off...

"Penny for your thoughts?" were the words that broke through Niku's reverie. Her mind turned from its own thoughts to processing her senses, like sight. Sitting in front of her was Manami, taking a break and smiling at Niku. The kunoichi hadn't even noticed her sit down, or come over for that matter. "Mind if I join you for a minute?" she asked, seeing as Niku had yet to respond to her first question.

"Yeah, I mean, no. I don't mind." Niku said, her brain still trying to catch up to the situation at hand.

"So what's the story with you and Jin?" Manami asked, a slight grin on her face.

Niku was finally catching up and with that, her friendly personality was coming back. "Hah, I was going to ask you that question, but I guess you asked first so I should answer. Only seems fair, though there's not much to our story," she said, sipping her tea before continuing. "When you become a genin, they place you in teams of 3. Jin and I were placed on a team together. That's it. We're just trying to get to know each other a little better, so we can function better as a team." Niku finished, lifting her eyelids as if suggesting to Manami that it was her turn.

"Just teammates, huh?" Manami asked out loud, clearly pondering the statement more than asking for clarification. "Well, he's a childhood friend of mine so sometimes I get "big sister protective" with him," she said, trying to make a menacing look on her face though her own smile was coming through. "Guess I'm not too terrifying to the likes of shinobi, but that's ok cause I like you Niku. And I like you for Jin."

Niku giggled a little at Manami's attempts at menacing, but quickly responded with "We're really just friends and teammates for now." Before she'd realized what she was saying, she'd said it. For now? Why the hell did I say that? What does that even mean?

"Ok, well, for now, you two can be friends. I'll be right back," she said, hopping up from the seat. A big grin spread across her face. "Your food should be just about done." Niku sputtered a little, trying to defend herself, but Manami was gone before she really had a chance...

The poor samurai girl was left there pondering: For now?
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:26 am

Instinct x 2 - 2224/2000

After her failure of a spar with Yūku and Yozei, Niku wanted to train. She wanted to go about getting stronger. First there was the test with Fanho and then the spar, but both times Niku had been utterly defeated. She just couldn't get over this feeling that she was lacking. Her grandfather was a great samurai and teacher, he'd trained her to be better but so far she was just a poor imitation of him. With that in mind, she was rushing over to her grandfather's house in hopes of him training her. She needed to learn everything he knew, because only then could she hope to surpass him and gain Fanho's favor. She arrived just after noon, knocking lightly on the door. The elderly man greeted her with a hug, but after taking a look at her, he could tell she wanted some training.

"Ok, give me your swords." Niku took off her wakizashi as she followed her grandfather to the backyard. The man attached the swords to his own hip, sitting just under his own katana. "My katana is 1, this wakizashi is 2," he said while pointing to sword directly under the katana. "And this one is 3," he said while pointing to the last sword. "You stand there and I'm going to draw a sword, you call out the number of the sword drawn. Simple, right?"

"Ok..." Niku answered hesitantly. Her personality was demure in comparison to normal because she lacked a sword, though she often was less talkative around her grandfather because he'd trained her to listen to his instructions rather than blabbering on. The two stood about 15 feet apart, Niku's Samurai's Domain technique ensured that she was far enough away from her grandfather to ensure that he wouldn't hit her with his katana, and the wakizashi were shorter. She stood, focusing solely on the three swords on his hip. The right hand drifted slowly to the second handle, before resting there for a moment.

Despite being so far away, Niku felt the breeze and her hair shifted because of it. His draw was that quick and that powerful that she could feel the air move because of it. She was about to call out a number, but she hesitated. "Well?" She felt like his hand had moved at the last second before he drew, but she wasn't sure. "Tw... two?" she finally answered with a stutter. Without a word, the samurai stepped forward a half step. Niku didn't understand, but his hand once again moved to the hilt of the second sword.

She instantly realized that he was about to draw again. Not only that, she realized that every time she was wrong, he was going to step forward meaning it was going to get much harder to concentrate very soon if she kept getting them wrong. There should be some difference in his arm motion with the katana versus the wakizashi, she mused in an attempt to come up with something to look for to tell the difference. There should also be a difference with the height, since the wakizashi are hanging lower than is normal. Despite her brain going into overdrive, she'd come up with nothing concrete to help her tell the difference between the draws. Instead, she tried focusing on the hand, determining if it went up, down or stayed the same.

Once again the breeze swayed her hair and her skirt. She was fairly confident this time: The hand went down! "Three!" she let out, a little loud, her voice filled with excitement. The samurai took a step back, but let his hand move to the sword's hilt again. He didn't intend to allow her as much time between draws anymore. Without a wasted movement, his arm withdrew a sword from its sheath, sliced the air in front of him and returned the blade to its rightful home. He looked at his granddaughter anticipating her response. "One."

He took another step back, now standing more than 15 feet apart. He was now fairly certain that he knew at what speed Niku could gauge his draw. That meant, he just had to go slightly faster to really stretch her perceptive abilities. So far, he'd always rested his hand on the center sword, but that was by no means part of the game. It was just one more variable he could play with to test his granddaughter. His hand, this time, came to rest atop his katana's hilt, number 1. Niku's head tilted just slightly as she realized that her grandfather had altered the game. Before it even had a chance to really register, the sword had been drawn and returned to its sheath.

The hand definitely went down... but did it go down to 2 or 3? she questioned herself, still unsure of what option to pick. I see, now the movement alone isn't enough. I have to focus harder. Without certainty, she answered "Two," which caused the samurai to step forward, returning him to the distance at which they'd begun. The old man's left hand settled atop his katana in a reverse grip causing Niku's eyes to bug out. Left hand?! His right hand settled atop the hilt of sword three. Both hands?!

With that thought, a sword was drawn, sending a slight breeze towards Niku. She had no idea which sword was drawn, or even which hand he'd used to draw it. With nothing really to go on, she simply guessed "Two." The old man stepped forward before placing his right hand on the third sword, leaving his left hand resting on his stomach. Niku tried to focus on the three swords, it doesn't matter which hand he uses, just which sword he drew. She tried closing off her mind to all of the distractions, including her grandfather's smug face, his moving hand, and her own desire to succeed. She didn't need drive to see which sword was drawn, she figured.

As the sword was drawn, Niku once again felt like she hadn't seen anything. She definitely saw movement, but it all happened so fast, she couldn't say for certain which sword was drawn. In truth, her grandfather was purposely going a hair too fast for Niku to keep up with. He wanted to increase the pressure by lowering the distance between them. The easiest way for him to do that was make sure she got some wrong and if she somehow managed to keep up with his speed, he could just go a little faster. He just hoped she wouldn't give up before he slowed back down. "Three," was her guess this go round. The old samurai stepped forward once more.

Niku was beginning to lose faith in herself. She was focusing as hard as she could and was still falling short. She wondered if she was really cut out for this samurai lifestyle. While her grandfather never spoke negatively of Niku, she couldn't help but feel, in times like these, that he was disappointed in her ability. She was sure that at a similar age, he had been much more competent with a sword than she now was and that was something she felt like she could never shake. She steadied her breathing and focused her eyes on the swords on her grandfather's hip. One, two, three, she thought, looking at each one as she mentally counted.

She noticed fingers gripping the third sword which naturally drew her attention to that weapon. Instinctively, Niku realized that this move was a fake out and tried to spread her attention to the other two, just in time to see her grandfather's left hand move into view. The actual unsheathing, however, was a little too fast for Niku's eyes to keep up with. But she still felt pretty confident that it hadn't been sword three. With that information, she guessed once more "Two." The old man hesitated for a moment, wondering if this were a guess or if she'd actually managed to keep up with him. Regardless, he took a step backwards seeing as she'd gotten the correct answer. He laid his left hand atop his katana's hilt, preparing for the next round.

Niku focused as best she could, trying to win the game. Once again, she tried focusing on the end of the hilts, hoping to see their movements, if they moved. A hand was already atop one of the hilts, but she didn't move her focus. The hand shifted slightly, Niku could tell it was a feint because it was tightening its grip or moving outward. It was a simple feint, she was sure her grandfather had many more, some much more dangerous. The hand moved slightly downward, as if moving to another sword, but then back up. With all of the movement and her eyes so focused on that hand, she failed to see the other hand come in and grab a hilt and unsheath it. She saw the movement of the arm, causing her to realize that she'd been duped once again. Without any reasoning, she guessed "One." Her grandfather stepped forward.

After another five minutes or so, Niku was starting to sweat. She wasn't used to focusing so intently for so long, but she was also sweating because her grandfather was now within 6 feet of her. She could tell with Samurai's Domain that his draw still wouldn't reach her, but knowing and trusting were separate things. Consciously, she knew the sword would miss her, but standing in place as the sword whizzed a mere inches from her face without attempting to back step was a whole other thing. Niku closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to alleviate some of the built up tension she'd developed. Opening her eyes, she took in her grandfather's appearance. He had waited a moment, but his hand moved slowly towards the hilt of his katana.

Knowing the blade was about to rush by her face was disconcerting and made it hard for the genin to concentrate. The anxiety of that forceful wind caused by the near speedily moving draw was eating away at her focus. She tried to ignore it, but it wasn't easy. She tried looking at the hilts on her grandfather's hip as his hand rest atop his katana. The hand shifted slightly, a feint, she surmised, but then it moved downward. Niku could see it, it moved to the third blade and drew the weapon. Her own muscles tensed as she failed to keep her body from flinching at the blade she knew would miss her. Niku's hair and skirt ruffled in the wind caused by the sword that surpassed sonic speeds. "Three!" she responded with confidence.

Her grandfather stepped back. "Ok, 5 more, then your daily draws." Niku nodded, pleased with herself for getting the last one correct despite her nerves. She felt like she could do this, she retained some of the confidence that she'd spoken with. She watched her grandfather intently as his right hand moved across his body to the hilt of the third sword. She even saw his left hand settle atop the hilt of his katana, the first sword. She waited for him to make a move, focusing on the three hilts and the muscles in his hands. She was sure she could do this.

But, as is turned out, her grandfather hadn't used all the tricks up his sleeve just yet. Without any pause, the samurai's left hand drew a sword, followed almost immediately by a draw with his right hand. As both swords were near instantly resheathed, he draw another sword with his right hand almost immediately followed by his left. In the span of less than a second, he'd drawn and resheathed four times. A smirk crossed his face as he could see the shock on Niku's.

She tried to piece together the information she could recall. It definitely was his left hand first, so it had to be 1 or 2. I don't think it moved to 2, so 1, I guess. Then his right drew 3. But then his right resheathed. Did it go to 2 or stay on 3? Gah, I'm not sure. After going over what she thought happened, she tentatively spoke "1, 3, 2, then 1?" Her grandfather took a step backward, then another, then a step forward before taking another step back. Niku was surprised at how well she did, only to be surprised once more.

Her grandfather rushed forward, his right hand settled on the hilt of the second sword. Niku's right foot, of its own accord, moved back in an attempt to make some distance between the draw she knew was coming. The blade passed a mere centimeter in front of her nose and she was sure she peed a little. "I did say 5," an abnormally large grin across his face. He still looked at her expectantly, waiting for her guess.

"One," in that last moment, she'd seen his hand shift upwards. She just wasn't positive that it hadn't shifted back down to one of the other blades before drawing. She hoped she was right. Her grandfather stood in front of her and removed her swords from his waist. "So, was it 1?" she finally asked, his silence making her more anxious.

"Ok, 100 traditional draws. Go."

Referenced JutsuShow
[Iaido • Samurai's Domain]
C-Rank Kenjutsu Stance
Prerequisite: [Iaido • Extension of the Body]
By entering this stance, Niku will use her heightened perceptive abilities to take in the opponent and his or her weapons. With a glance, she will be able to accurately determine the length of any weapons that are plainly visible, meaning she cannot determine the lengths of any hidden, pouched, or sealed weapons until they are brought out into the open. Likewise, weapons with unique abilities or techniques which allow them to extend will be outside of her purview. With this information, Niku will be able to determine the opponent's attack range, which allows her to evade the opponents attacks more with the smallest amount of movement.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:35 am

Ninjutsu x2 - 2009/2000

Niku's interactions with her fellow shinobi had pushed her drive to get stronger. She wanted to learn more ninjutsu techniques to supplement her sword, but she realized that to do that required increasing her capabilities with ninjutsu. In other words, Niku had to train ninjutsu in a similar manner to how she'd trained Iaido and the sword over the last eight years. The practice would be different, but the concept was the same: practice practice practice, until it becomes second nature. For this reason, Niku was rushing out her front door, heading for the nearest training ground. Her grandfather's place would have been closer, but she didn't like practicing ninjutsu around him; it made her feel like she was cheating on his teachings or something.

The sun was high overhead as it was midday and the slight breeze was barely enough to cause the grass to move under its pressure. Niku decided to start with one of the basic techniques. If she could improve her skill with it, then surely her overall prowess with ninjutsu would increase. She began doing the handseals for the Clone Technique. She focused her chakra into the seals and then a massless clone appeared next to her. It wavered and seemed to fade in and out of reality before Niku let the clone dissipate. It was a relatively simple technique and even Niku managed to get it right more often than not. However, she wanted to get it right every single time in every single circumstance. Only then could she say she'd truly mastered the technique.

She sat down, crossing her legs letting the tights under her skirt protect her modesty rather than her sitting posture. She closed her eyes and began doing the hand seals once again. For a second time, her chakra left her body and formed a 'body' of sorts that couldn't interact with the environment. It was almost like a ghost, fading in and out, noticeably not a real girl. Rather than dispelling this clone, like the last one, Niku began doing another string of hand seals. Once again, she felt her body weaken slightly as chakra left her body to create a new clone. The two clones stood side by side, the breeze slowly shaving away at their very being. Niku closed her eyes again and began another string of hand seals. She wasn't used to doing this many ninjutsu so closely together, even if they were E ranked. The chakra escaped her body again, slowly forming into a clone resembling Niku. About halfway to being created, the attempt failed as she lacked the concentration to properly form the clone. Opening her eyes, Niku was displeased and her emotions caused the other two clones to dissipate as well.

"I have a long ways to go," she said aloud to no one in particular. She was already tired of the Clone Technique, so she decided to try a more advanced technique. Closing her eyes again, she began doing a string of hand seals. A moment after, the earth in front of her began moving, seemingly of its own accord. In truth, Niku's chakra had been pushed into the earth and was creating an earthen clone in front of her. As the earth began looking more and more humanoid, Niku opened her eyes to see her handiwork. In that moment, an idea came to her that she'd never had before. She stood up, preparing to try another one of the Basic techniques. As she stood, she could already tell that her chakra supplies were running low as it made her feel a little dizzy. Standing a few feet from the clone, Niku did a string of hand seals.

In that moment, she thought she and the clone would swap places. It was an ideal tactic if someone had gotten too close and was landing a deadly blow. However, things didn't go as Niku had planned. For whatever reason, Niku's jutsu had failed and she and the earth clone were in the exact same places as before. It was then that she remembered something from the academy: Idiot, you can't change places with a being of chakra, she mentally berated herself. The earth clone was not a suitable replacement because Niku's chakra gave it life. Out of frustration, Niku moved towards the clone and drew her blade, bisecting the clone's body with one draw. Still wanting to perform the technique, Niku looked around before finally seeing a tree stump that should suffice as a replacement.

Doing the hand seals again, this time Niku tried to swap places with the stump nearby. Unlike before, this time was a success and Niku watched the stump fall to the ground with a thud. She grinned, but felt a little nauseous. Guess this is my current limit in ninjutsu. Taijutsu doesn't take nearly as much out of you, she mused as she took a seat to rest.

Nearly a week later, Niku arrived at the training ground once again. She'd been here every day since that first time to train ninjutsu via a similar training method. Standing in the middle of the training ground, her hands began doing a string of hand seals in front of her. As she finished the seals, her chakra began to distort and mangle her appearance, slowly altering the way she looked. After a moment, she would look like her teammate Hanako. She looked down her new body, pleased with the generous 'enhancements' that the Transformation Technique had endowed her with. She turned, looking past her fake bust to see her lower half. Yep, this is definitely Hanako's rockin' bod, she mused. She allowed the transformation to revert her back to her normal appearance.

I guess Fanho is next, she decided. Once again, her hands began running through the proper hand seals and like before her chakra began altering her appearance. It broadened her shoulders, lengthened her legs and torso. When all was said and done, Niku now appeared like her special jounin sensei, Awai Fanho. Too bad I don't have a mirror; for if I did, I could stare lustily into Fanho's eyes, she mused before giggling aloud. As she stopped, she realized that an onlooker would have seen Fanho giggling like a young girl, which just made her giggle more. Niku once again let the transformation dissipate as she resumed her normal appearance. Now Jin, I reckon.

As her hands began to move, her mind did as well which caused her hands to stop. Turning into Jin out here is fun and all, but it could be more fun! she thought, as her legs began moving towards Ichirou's Shack. This was a restaurant that Jin had taken her to, but, more importantly, one of his close, childhood friends, Manami, works there. I wonder if I can fool Manami into believing I'm Jin. It was a way for Niku to make the ninjutsu training a little more enjoyable, but still continue to train.

Moments later and Niku found herself a couple hundred feet from the restaurant. On her way over, Niku had developed the plan further: First, I'll make make a clone of myself and then I'll do the transformation technique so that I look like Jin and then I'll go in as Jin and my clone will go in as me. Like a recreation of the first time Jin and I came here. Niku then did a string of hand seals and watched as a clone of herself formed nearby. She started doing another string of hand seals, this time for the Transformation technique. Slowly, her chakra distorted her face and clothes until she looked like a clone of Jin.

The new Jin and Niku began walking towards Ichirou's, but Niku realized that her clone was massless and unable to affect the world. She worried that Manami would notice, so she decided to utilize a doton clone instead. Letting the clone dissipate, Niku began doing another string of hand seals. She stomped her foot to the ground and watched as the earth, controlled by her chakra, began molding and growing skyward. Within a moment, the earth had formed into another Niku, matching her height and appearance precisely. Feeling better, Niku and her clone started on to the restaurant, carefully opening the front door and stepping inside.

"Jin and Niku! Two of my favorite shinobi, welcome back!" Manami spoke as soon as they were visible. Niku, in the guise of Jin, waved to the girl nonchalantly as her earth clone made a big display of a big wave."Hey Manami" Niku said, trying to make her voice deeper and more akin to Jin's own. Truth be told, Niku didn't know Jin nearly as well as Manami, so this was definitely a tough challenge for the kunoichi. She could already feel the drain of the Transformation technique, but also trying to decide how Jin would act and what he'd say was also drawing on Niku's limited mental powers.

Manami led the two shinobi to a table, before asking "The norm?" Her tone indicated that she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. "Totally, thanks babe." Niku regretted saying that as soon as she'd finished saying them. Manami gave a weird look to the two of them before heading off to get the tea. Oops, probably too much. Reign it in Niku, reign it in, she thought before Manami came back. Realizing that Niku being quiet was a little too weird, Niku sent her clone to the bathroom. Manami would be less suspicious of a bathroom trip than a silent Niku. When Manami returned, she looked to Jin before speaking. "You two are spending a lot of time together..." she said, letting her voice trail off as if suggesting something without actually saying it.

"Yeah, she's got a great body," Niku responded in her Jin voice. She hoped that it was more Jin than her last response.

"Sure she does! But, what about your team? Won't that cause some issues with your teamwork?" Manami asked, taking a seat in the clone's vacated place. "This is your career we're talking about. Haven't you heard that saying 'don't mix business and pleasure'?"

Niku was surprised at how much Manami seemed to care for Jin. She wasn't just protective, but trying to help him look out for his own future. "Yeah," Niku wasn't sure how Jin would respond so she paused, trying to come up with something. "Maybe I'll wait until we're promoted, then put the moves on her." Niku relaxed a little, having at least responded in some way. It's hard being a boy, Niku thought as her clone headed back over. Manami smiled to the clone, unaware of what it was, before getting up so 'Niku' could sit down.

"I'll be right back to get your orders," Manami said, heading over to another table and giving 'Jin' and 'Niku' a chance to peruse the menu. Niku was starting to worry that her transformation would wear off soon, she also wasn't sure how long her clone would stay active. I can't leave a whole earthy Niku for Manami to clean up, she joked to herself, though somewhat true. If the clone ran out of chakra, it'd revert to a, literally, dirty mess. 'Jin' and 'Niku' hoped up and 'Jin' threw a coin on the table, for the tea. And the two then headed for the door. Manami looked at them questioningly, but was unable to tear herself away from the customer that she was with.

Once outside, the earth clone made it about 20 feet before crumbling to the ground under its own weight. Niku crushed its face, just so no one knew it had been her clone and moved further away from the restaurant. Once she hid behind a building, she allowed the transformation to dissipate, returning to her normal appearance. "I don't think she was completely convinced..." Niku said, giggling to herself as she replayed the events in her mind. "We were pretty suspicious," she mused, "I'll just have to train harder."





Jutsu (in order used)Show
*[Basic Jutsu • Clone Technique]

[Doton • Young Clone]

*[Basic Jutsu • Change of Body Stance Technique]

*[Basic Jutsu • Transformation Technique]
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Mar 22, 2018 8:18 am

Control - 1086/1000

The sun was just beginning to hide itself behind the trees as Niku laid in the middle of the training ground, staring skyward. Clouds passed overhead and Niku picked out some that looked like animals or ninja tools. The light breeze caused the trees to sway slightly, letting the sun's rays inconsistently hit Niku's face. She didn't mind though, she was more focused on resting after her training. She'd recently taken more of an interest in ninjutsu. She'd found Tenzin Sensei to help her train some more doton techniques and she'd included ninjutsu training into her regimen. It wasn't easy finding time to train so much, but she felt like it was making her stronger so it all seemed worth it. She'd just finished her taijutsu training and was letting her breathing return to normal. A part of ninjutsu that she was still severely lacking was the control of her chakra.

In her prone position, Niku closed her eyes and focused on the chakra flowing through her body. As a shinobi, she was well aware of how to use chakra, she just hadn't developed a strong ability to control it. She tried moving the chakra around, focusing it to her hand. It wasn't a complicated thing for a shinobi to do, but it proved difficult for Niku. It was like she was standing in a river and while she was strong enough to withstand the river's flow, she couldn't very well turn the river around and make it flow backwards. She may be able to push some of the water in that direction, but the vast majority of the water just continued flowing as if Niku weren't even there. Feeling dejected, she decided to train her control like she had trained her ninjutsu - practice.

She hopped up and moved to the edge of the training ground. Niku once again closed her eyes and tried pushing the chakra to her feet. Without hand seals, it was more difficult to control, but she did her best. She then rushed towards a tree, moving her feet to the tree's trunk as she got close enough to do so. For a moment, she felt her feet stick to the tree and she took a couple steps up the tree. As her confidence grew, her feet stopped sticking and gravity kicked in. She felt her upward momentum cease due to the effect of gravity before she realized that she was falling down. With a thud, Niku fell to the ground, landing flat on her back.

Rolling over to her stomach, Niku regained the air that had been knocked from her. She pushed herself up and stood, looking to the tree once more. It hadn't really hurt, so she knew she couldn't have fallen more than a couple feet. That was both reassuring, because there wasn't much pain, and saddening, because she hadn't made it very high at all. She looked to the ground, where she'd just found herself laying. Turning away from the tree, she took a few steps before turning abruptly. Rather than utilizing speed, she planned to move slower and focus on the control of her chakra a bit more: that was the purpose of the training, after all.

She closed her eyes and focused on the chakra flowing within her. She took a step forward, knowing the tree was still four or five steps ahead of her. She moved the chakra to her foot as it landed; of course, gravity wasn't fighting her with that step, but it was more about getting the timing and control correct, rather than functionality. She hoped that would come later. Niku took another couple steps, focusing the chakra to her feet just as they were about to touch the ground. With a quick glance, she opened her right eye to gauge the distance between herself and the tree. Closing the eye, she took one more step, again trying to time to surge of chakra to her foot with when it would touch the ground.

Now a few inches from the tree, Niku leaned back and placed her left foot on the tree's trunk. Her mind was still focused as her eyes were closed and she actively moved chakra to her foot as it touched the tree. With a little testing, she was sure it would hold for the time being. She lifted her other foot off the ground, now being held in place solely by the chakra on her sole. Not trusting herself, Niku placed her other foot onto the tree and flowed chakra to that foot. She felt much more comfortable having both feet to support her weight, though she realized now that it was actually more difficult with two feet. Rather than focusing on the adherence of one source of chakra, she now had to focus on two and ensure that neither gave way to the downward pull of gravity.

Niku realized that this was an easy task for some shinobi. She was sure her teammates, Hanako and Jin, would likely have no trouble with such a technique. That, however, just provided her with more motivation as she felt the need to catch up to her teammates so that she wasn't a liability. The technique she was practicing was quite useful and there may come a time when Team 7 needs to scale a wall and, in her current state, Niku would be unable to do so, bringing the team down. She didn't want that; in fact, letting people down was one of her worst fears. In a way, it helped Niku become the samurai she was and now it was helping to thrust her into the training that would make her a better shinobi.

It wasn't easy, but Niku tried taking another step upwards. That meant loosening the adhesion of the chakra she'd placed in one foot so that she could move it, take a step, and then reattach her foot to the tree with chakra. All the while, she had to keep some of her focus on the foot that wasn't moving, to ensure that it didn't give way to gravity as well. She succeeded in getting her left foot off the tree, but felt her right foot slipping when she tried to step upward with her left. Niku's concentration gave way with the fright of her imminent fall which brought about the fall that much sooner. "I still have a ways to go," she said aloud to herself, before standing in front of the tree once more.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Mon May 07, 2018 10:01 am

Stamina - 1163/1000

With all of the recent ninjutsu and control training, Niku'd realized that utilizing chakra had a tendency to tire her out quickly and immensely; combining that realization with her grandfather's remarks about how low her endurance seemed, Niku had decided to implement some new training into her regimen in order to increase her body's stamina. The specific idea for the training was actually her grandfather's.

Niku arrived at the nearest body of water which happened to be a creek, weaving its way through the forest's trees. She looked around for a moment, seeing no one, she sat on a rock and removed her boots. They were tall boots reaching up to her thigh so it took a bit of time to remove them. Once she folded them neatly on a rock, she got up and dipped the toes of her right foot into the water. The chill caused her to quickly retract her toes and look around once again. Still seeing no one, she resigned herself to the water's chill and hopped forward. Landing about a foot into the water, Niku let her body acclimate to the water's temperature.

After a moment, Niku started jogging through the creek. While it seemed like a fun and childish thing to do, she quickly realized that there was more this training than she'd originally realized. She could feel her toes digging into the sand beneath the water. This, she could already feel, did two things. First, it took a good deal more energy to remove those toes from the sand when it was time for the next step. And second, the sand caused her steps to be less practiced as her feet moved just a little more than on solid ground. While that may seem inconsequential, Niku could feel different muscles being worked after just a few steps because of the slightly unsteady ground. Combined with the inherent difficulty of running in a foot of water made this a particularly draining exercise. Niku quickly realized that doing this for a few days would likely force her body to evolve.

She continued running down stream. Of course, there were places where the riverbed was covered mostly in rocks, rather than sand. They were slippery on her toes, causing her to slide around a bit more. And there were some places where the water had pooled, causing the water level to be up to her waist. She just trudged on through, paying no mind to the water. She stopped for a moment as she came to a tree that crossed the entirety of the creek, blocking her path. Her breaths were deep as her lungs strived to attain more oxygen for her muscles. She turned back and headed upstream. The creek's water didn't flow very quickly, so it really wasn't much more difficult than going downstream.

She could feel muscles in her legs burning, different ones than she normally used when running. As she saw her boots atop a rock, she leapt from the water, spinning 180 degrees and flopping to the ground with a thud. Her core rose and fell quickly as she gasped for oxygen. I guess its good this is so tiring, she mused from her prone position.

A week later, Niku arrived at the creek once again. She'd been coming every day since the first one, so her body was beginning to acclimate to the new exercise. For this reason, Niku had decided to venture a bit further downstream than normal, where there were more fallen trees and big rocks to impede her journey. She hoped the addition of these obstacles would continue to develop her stamina. She placed her boots on a rock that was easily visible from the creek and moved into the water. By now the rush of cold was just a part of the training and Niku had, as much as one can, prepared herself before touching the cold water. After getting to the middle of the creek, she started trotting downstream.

Her first obstacle, the fallen tree that she'd stopped at on her first trip, was about 35 yards ahead of her. She planned to jump it which would normally be an easy task, but she didn't know if what kind of footing there would be and she was planning to do it on the run. If she stepped on a loose or slippery rock, her jump could be messed up and while it wasn't life or death: it still might hurt. As she approached, her feet fell atop sand, giving her confidence that she'd have no trouble. And just before the downed tree, she jumped causing her whole body to leave the water with a splash. By pulling her knees up to her chest, she easily cleared the tree and came splashing down back into the creek.

Her feet, almost of on their own, kept on moving, stepping on any sand or rocks that may lay in their way. Her eyes perceived the stream as she decided on which path to take. She hopped, coming mostly out of the water to place her foot atop a rock that had been sticking out of the water. She got to another tree and, like before, cleared the tree with little trouble. Niku noticed a small clearing ahead, only to discover that it was actually a five foot drop. Some might call it a waterfall, but Niku didn't slow down, letting gravity do its work and pull her back down to the earth's surface which, at the point, was covered in the cold water.

She landed with a splash, both feet landing harshly on the submerged rocks. Luckily, there were no protrusions, just a hard surface. She kept moving forward as the water level slowly receded to just above her ankles once more. She somersaulted over a tree, performing a half spin in the air as well. She landed atop the rock that the tree lay across. She took two deep breaths and felt how sore her feet were. She didn't dwell on the pain though, instead, she headed back towards the waterfall; her mind still trying to decide on the best way back to her boots. Niku didn't think she could jump up the waterfall, as the water was about waist deep at the point where she'd need to jump which would hinder the height of her jump.

Her eyes surveyed the waterfall, looking for a rock to help her jump up the five foot wall of rocks. Seeing just what she was looking for, Niku headed into the deeper water, just right of where she'd come down. With a strong leap, Niku's body came out of the water, her right foot reaching for her desired stepping stone. It reached the rock and pushed Niku's body up higher, allowing the young kunoichi to easily clear the waterfall. A smile crept across her face as she continued heading back to her boots. She could already feel a difference in her stamina.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Fri Jul 27, 2018 1:20 pm

Strength x2 - 2056/2000 words

Niku had just come home from her morning creek run. Her skirt and tights were noticeably wet from the activity, but she really wanted something to eat before changing. She was in the kitchen preparing a hearty meal to give her enough energy for the rest of her day when she heard a light tap-tap-tap on the front door. I wonder who that is? she mused to herself as she walked to the door. Few people visited the Inken household at this time of day; Niku's mother was still in bed actually. The young kunoichi opened the door slowly, peering through the ever widening gap. "Grandpa! What're you doing here?" she inquired, opening the door farther to allow him inside.

"I've got something for you, to help with your training," he gestured to the box in his hands as he said this. He walked past Niku into the kitchen, placing the box on the table. He gracefully took a seat, gesturing once again to the box. Curious what was inside It's too small to be a sword, she mused, before flipping the box's lid open.

Inside, Niku found a belt, two bracelets and two anklets. Each of the five items were about three inches wide. She went to pick one up, suddenly realizing that they were weighted. "Weights!" she said, "this'll make me stronger, right?"

"If used properly, of course." The old man responded. He didn't have to try to be stern, he just came off that way. He continued "You will do your normal training regimen wearing these weights, as you'd expect. However, I'd also like you to wear the weights outside of training and I have one other request. Outside of training, I'd like you to move as slowly as possible."

Niku's brow furled slightly. "Slowly... but why?" In what may seem like a role reversal, the old man rolled his eyes at his granddaughter. It was an exaggerated expression that said more than he could have with his own words. Niku instantly knew that the 'why' was irrelevant to her. Her grandfather said it would make her stronger, the whys and hows were of no importance because she explicitly trusted her grandfather when it came to samurai things. "You're right, sorry. I will do my best, thank you grandfather." He stayed and watched as Niku placed the weights on her ankles, first. Then she moved to the belt and lastly, she applied the appropriate weights to her wrists.

She then walked over to her breakfast, purposely moving slowly as she did so. "Slower," was all her grandfather said. Slower?! Is he mad? It'll take me forever to get through the day if I'm always moving at a snail's pace. Her inner self was livid: for the first 14 years of her life, he'd always tried to get her to go faster, move faster and now he wanted her to move slow enough to make a sloth's movements seem to be at super speed. She held the heavy iron skillet over the plate, slowly scraping the food onto one plate before slowly moving over to the second plate. "Better, you do learn quick." It wasn't but a moment later that everything clicked in Niku's mind.

The slight pain in her wrist was the catalyst for that clarity. She realized that by moving slowly, she was forcing parts of her body to do things for much longer than normal. By moving incredibly slowly to scrape the food onto a plate, Niku was forced to hold that heavy skillet up for much longer than normal. And, as opposed to speed training that utilize weights, this didn't push the muscles to their limits. This was a nice slow burn that, over time, would develop all of the muscles in the body.

"You get it now, good." The old man was pleased with his granddaughter's ability to figure out the meaning behind the training he was giving her. Not only did it prove she was a competent swordsman who understood her own body, but it also meant that she was capable of teaching the art to others some day. It pleased the old man to know that his legacy could go on after he left this world.

"This is actually really awesome training!" she said with more enthusiasm than was necessary so early in the morning. "Wearing these during my training will be hard, but I'm gonna do my best!" She continued scraping the rest of the food she'd cooked onto the plates. After that, she slowly reached over to the drawer that held the forks, lifting two out, before placing each one on the plates with food. Even something so simple as reaching for a silverware provided her muscles with a workout due to the weights and the slight stretch. Niku then picked up both plates and slowly turned around, moving incredibly slowly towards the table. Each step, at this pace, was difficult because of the balance required to stand on one leg for the time it took her other leg to move forward. She knew balance was reliant on the strength of her core, so this would, undoubtedly, make her core stronger.

"Did you want some?" she asked her grandfather, gesturing to the plates in her hand, as she slowly made her way to the table.

"No no, I've got business to tend to elsewhere. I wish you the best with your training," he said before getting up and letting himself out. Normally he'd have let Niku see him out, but he was too impatient to wait for the girl to move to the door, besides, I wouldn't want her food to get cold. A slight smile spread across his face as he shut the door behind himself.

Niku set both plates on the table, before slowly lowering herself down into the chair. It was, she noted, like a squat but the extra weights provided much more of a burn on her muscles than a single squat would normally which when compounded with how long she was holding it, she was sure sitting a few times would begin to make her sore in places she never even thought she could get sore. Niku slowly moved her hand to pick up her fork, she could feel the weights on her wrist pulling the muscles of her forearm, the elbow joint, her bicep, and even her shoulder.

"Who was at the door?" Niku's mother asked as she entered the room, sitting next to her daughter to eat her breakfast. "Oh," she said, acknowledging that she already knew. Niku's new 'accessories' gave away everything her mother needed to know. Within moments, Niku's mother was finished and, with a grin, waved to her daughter as she headed off about her day. Her daughter's slow movements indicating she had a while until she was done.

This is a sure fire way to increase my body's overall strength. Not only that, but moving this slowly is really going to piss me off which will be great motivation for training when I can move at normal speed, she mused as she picked up her fork and began moving it to her food. About halfway through her meal, Niku's arm muscles were so tired from holding her arm up for so long, due to her extremely slow movements, that she'd been forced to switch to other arm. Even with her right arm resting atop the table, she could feel the muscles aching. Her left arm was already beginning to feel some burn from the workout, though she had much less trouble eating with her off hand than she expected. No doubt a result of the ambidextrous training Grandfather put me through.

After finishing her meal and washing the dishes, Niku decided to rest awhile. While the extremely slow movements left her brain feeling like it was in overdrive, her body was already reaching a point of soreness that was nearing unbearableness. This training, not only causes you to work muscles which are seldom worked, but also forces you to rest a lot more than otherwise, Niku noted as she stared at the ceiling. She knew that part of training was pushing your muscles to the extreme and then giving them the time they need to rebuild themselves better than before, this training seemed to be based on that philosophy.

As she rested, Niku realized that she'd have to leave for the training ground a good 3 hours before she wanted to train if she was going to move as slowly as she had to get there. A smile crossed her lips as the realization hit.

346 hours later...

Niku was jogging, her weights always pulling her downwards. She had just finished training with Masaru so she'd decided to use the trip home as a cool down. Plus, she didn't have time to walk super slowly if she wanted to get there before tomorrow. The rumbles coming from her stomach had been a large factor in choosing to jog home, knowing she couldn't walk at a snail's pace with such hunger pains. While the weights were just as heavy as the first day she'd put them on, Niku found herself growing sore less often and less quickly. What used to cause soreness in just a couple minutes now took an hour. It wasn't unusual for Niku to not even get sore because of switching to a separate task before getting there.

She slowed, allowing her breathing to return to normal as she approached her house. Entering the small gate in front, Niku began moving much more slowly, allowing the weights to work their magic. She wasn't entirely sure if her body was getting stronger or if she was just gaining stamina from the experience, but she figured both would help her along her path, so she didn't dwell too much on that. Slowly lifting her left foot off the ground, she raised it ever so sluggishly as she attempted to climb the stairs to the front door. Once she'd gotten her foot higher than the step, she moved it forward before painstakingly lowering it to the step below. With the first step conquered, Niku slowly pushed off that step, raising her body so that it's weight rested solely on the step.

A couple minutes later...

Niku pushed herself up, again at a snail's pace, bringing her entire weight up to resting on the last step. She knew that people passing by probably thought she was stuck in slow motion, but taking a couple minutes to go up five steps didn't seem that bad to her if it meant she could become stronger. After moving inside and ever so slowly closing the door, Niku looked around the room. She wasn't sure where her mother was or when she'd return but it was nearing time for dinner so Niku headed towards the kitchen to prepare a meal. Despite the fact that the two women lived together, they rarely shared a meal due to being on different schedules. Tonight, it seems, will be no different.

She headed to the pantry to see what they had. After grabbing the rice from the shelf, Niku, using her left foot for power and her right foot as a pivot, turned back towards the stove. Each step was more like a stomp as the extra weight paired with Niku's physical exhaustion as she made her way across the room. Niku's ears caught the sound of the front door opening, so she asked "You're home, want some rice?" as she slowly filled the pot with water. She'd grown accustomed to slowly pouring water, which was difficult without weights let alone with the extra weight.

"No thank you, just came to check in on you," her grandfather responded, stepping into the kitchen.

"Oh, I thought it was mom." Niku responded after a small giggle.

The elderly samurai watched his granddaughter as she moved about the kitchen, preparing her meal. His eyes didn't seem to focus on her so much as staring through her, looking directly at her muscles rather than the clothes or skin that covered them. "I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of the progress you've made with this training. You'll be a fine samurai, one day." The two laughed, though Niku's was a bit more nervous that her grandfather's.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Tue Jun 04, 2019 1:18 pm

Speed x3 - 3009/3000

Niku was extremely frustrated at the training her grandfather had bestowed upon her hours ago. Niku had been instructed to move incredibly slowly outside of training while wearing some ridiculously heavy weights on her wrists, waist, and ankles. While she understood that this training would increase the strength throughout her body, the practice of moving at such a slow pace was mentally infuriating to the young kunoichi. She'd spent years trying to go faster and move faster, be faster and now the one who'd taught her to be fast wanted her to be slow. He might call it strength training, I'd call it patience training, she mused, a slight grin forming across her face.

Despite all that, Niku was now looking forward to training because it was the only time she could go fast, which meant she just wanted to train all the time. After getting dressed (at a pace which a sloth would think of as slow), Niku stepped through her threshold into the outside world. She was now ready to do her morning run. After a couple small steps down the path, Niku already felt better. She wasn't moving quickly, by any stretch of the imagination, but she was no longer moving at such a ridiculously slow pace either. She was free, free to move at whatever pace she chose, free to traverse the world however she chose. She continued to pick up the pace as she easily leaped over the front gate. Landing in the street, Niku turned towards town and continued picking up the pace.

With her legs moving forward, the young kunoichi could feel the weights around her ankles throwing her balance off slightly. Her waist also felt a bit lower to the ground and her arms, swinging as they naturally do when someone runs, only made matters of balance worse. Even without going full speed, Niku could tell that running with weights wasn't going to be as simple as a walk in the park. She turned the corner, heading towards the Academy. She felt her speed reaching its natural limit, though she knew that she could still go faster without the weights. But with weights, Niku couldn't match her normal top speed.

It didn't take long before the samurai passed the Academy and kept on going. She was still pleased to be able to all out and was taking advantage of it. The wind in her face felt exquisite, though she was half tempted to remove the weights so that she could max out her speed and really feel the wind rushing through her hair. No! Grandfather's trainings have always worked in the past. Her legs pushed off the ground, sending the genin over a stranded bicycle laying in the street. The pep talk that Niku had given herself had worked and Niku ran with renewed vigor, ever trying to exceed her own limitations.

Minutes later, the young genin arrived at a training ground that currently had no one training in it. She crossed her ankles and lowered her rear to the ground, closing her eyes all in one process. She took a moment to rest, allowing her breathing to return to normal and her muscles a little time to relax after the hard work of pushing Niku and the added weight through the streets of Konoha. It wasn't long before the kunoichi returned to her feet, surveying the training ground for suitable Iaido targets. Niku settled on two, three foot wide trees, approximately twenty feet apart. She stretched her upper body a moment, before positioning herself next to one of the trees.

Without hesitation, Niku rushed towards the other tree, achieving top speed as quickly as possible. Heading straight for the tree, her left hand moved to the hilt on her right hip. With a little extra force while pushing off the ground with her right foot, Niku slid by the left side of the tree. Her sword had purposely been unsheathed and resheathed at near invisible speeds. She headed back to the tree to inspect her handiwork, pleased to see a long, but relatively shallow mark along the tree's trunk. She was pleased with the effects of her capability, though she acknowledged that her draw had felt slow and clunky, though that was likely due to the weights. Regardless of the weights, Niku was more concerned with the speed of her draw.

Niku rushed towards the second tree, once again allowing her left hand to slide down to one of the hilts on her right hip. Her path rushed right by the tree, the metal of her blade easily sliding through the tree's bark as she did so before speedily being reinserted into its home, the sheath. The weights posed a small problem to Niku's technique, but mostly caused her arm and legs to be slower and less easily movable. The evidence was there on the tree, the blade had managed to slice through the bark, but the cut was a little jagged on the edges. No doubt caused by the shakiness from the weights.

The kunoichi took a step back from the tree, exhaling deeply into the air as she seemingly focused on her next task. The distance between herself and the tree matched the distance of Niku's arm and sword minus an inch. If she were to draw, she'd be able to cut the tree, but not significantly damage it. With her right hand on her sword's hilt, Niku drew the blade at the fastest pace she could manage with the weights on her wrist. She noted that the weights on her hip also provided some slowing of the drawing motion as well. The blade easily slid through the outer inch of the tree before Niku resheathed it on her hip. "One," she counted aloud to herself.

About an hour later, "One thousand," she announced, wiping the sweat from her brow. She shook her right arm out for a moment, giving the weight laden muscles a chance to feel a different movement than the drawing one she'd just practiced a thousand times. She moved a half step to her left, maintaining the same distance between herself and the tree. This time, her left hand went to the hilt on her hip as she exhaled deeply. A moment later, a shimmer of a reflection could be seen before disappearing into the ether once again. "One," she began counting again. The whole point of this training was to increase her body's speed of the draw utilizing the weights to force her muscles to work harder than normal.

About an hour later, Niku completed her thousandth draw with her left hand. She once again shook her drawing arm as a means of allowing the muscles to rest. She stepped forward and squatted down next to the tree. Peering at the two thousand marks that now scratched the tree's surface, each one about half an inch away from the other. With a simple glance, the untrained eye wouldn't see any difference between the marks, thinking all of them were exactly the same, but Niku was looking more closely than that. She could see the jagged edges at the bottom, indicating a cut that hadn't utilized enough speed or strength to cut through the bark properly. The top ones, however, were slightly less jagged than the bottom ones, indicating to Niku that her speed was indeed getting better. Of course, this wasn't enough to congratulate herself just yet.

Her arms were still a bit tired, so she decided on some running exercises to keep up her overall speed. Using her sword, Niku drew three lines in the dirt with the middle one being exactly between the two trees. The other two lines were equidistant from the tree on its respective side and the middle line she'd just drawn. Returning to the first tree, Niku's head turned until her neck popped three times, as she peered at the set up she'd created. For a moment, she allowed her breath to normalize, but then Niku rushed forward until she arrived at the first line. She reached down, tapped the dirt with her hand and then rushed back to the tree. Niku was using the exercise as designed, to increase explosive speed. Once she got to her starting point at the tree, she tapped it and then rushed towards the middle line. Reaching the line, she bent down and tapped the dirt with her hand before bolting back to her initial tree. Tapping it lightly, Niku once again rushed towards the other tree, intending to stop at the last of the three lines she'd drawn. Once there, she tagged the dirt and headed back to the initial tree. Her legs, with the weights attached were definitely feeling the burn from this exercise. The need to stop and then restart in a different direction, it was all about acceleration and her legs were feeling the extra weights more than any other part of her body.

Tapping the tree where she'd started, Niku turned and accelerated as quickly as she could towards the second tree, her finishing line for this exercise. She ran with all her might, realizing how slowly it took her to actually get up to top speed. Once there, she felt slightly more comfortable, rushing past the tree allowing her right hand to tag the tree as she went by. She slowly walked back to the tree as her breathing returned to normal. The exercise, she realized, was one she knew she needed to practice more often. It took her far too long to get to top speed and that was something she needed to improve, but she just really didn't like that exercise with the weights on. There were a few times that she felt like she might fall over, as the weights slightly upset her balance.

She decided that running at top speed was more enjoyable, so she just started running. She ran as fast as she could; it was hard on her, with the weights, but she was overjoyed to be moving fast. She felt like she wasn't at top speed, but with the weights, she was definitely going as quickly as her body could muster. She just wanted to go faster, like her grandfather. No, I want to be faster than him, some day. She dug down deep, willing her body to put out more physical speed, more power. She didn't know if her body could handle it, but she just kept pushing herself forward. The smile on her face was undeniable as she rushed through the streets of Konoha, a small trail of dirt and road debris being kicked up by each step.

The next day...
NIku took the four envelopes from her grandfather, her arm, still with attached weights on the wrist, moving slowly as she took put the letters in her satchel. Her grandfather had students who'd learned Iaido from him all over Konoha and he often tried to keep in touch with them. Niku, as part of her training, was going to deliver those letters. Once outside, Niku stretched a bit before heading out. She started off at a decent, but mild pace. She could go faster, but she was still allowing her body to warm up so she kept her body under control. Once she was warmed up, she picked up the pace, her body humming like a well oiled machine. She had no trouble rushing through the streets of Konoha, evading people and animals that oftentimes enjoyed leisurely strolls through the village. Niku arrived at the first house, handing the letter over to a familiar man. After the first house, Niku went to the second, utilizing her full speed and Senses Open. She continued delivering her grandfather's letters to his former students, glad to be moving at quick speeds.

A few days later...
Niku, with her weighted belt, anklets, and bracelets, stood in her grandfather's back yard which doubled as his personal training ground. It was spacious enough and Niku had come to see it as their dojo, since she'd practiced there for so many years. Without a word, her grandfather rushed by her, tapping her shoulder. This was the announcement that they were playing Tag, which they'd played long before Niku ever started down the path of a samurai. She rushed after him, her own speed somewhat hindered by the heavy weights attached to her body. He stopped for a moment, allowing Niku to close the distance, before backing up a few steps and then rushing to his right. Niku never slowed, moving to her left as her grandfather went right. She reached an arm out, thinking she could reach the old samurai, but he hopped back and continued going forward as he had been. Despite the maneuver, he didn't seem to slow down, just altered his trajectory, causing Niku's hand to touch nothing but air.

She didn't let this stop her though, as her hand missed, she spun to her left, allowing her to keep up with her grandfather's maneuver. It really was one of the simplest and most enjoyable forms of training. With her sights set on his back, Niku tried with all her might to speed up. Of course, her grandfather wasn't going full speed either, but he never did when they played this game. Niku came to an abrupt stop as she realized her grandfather was lengthening the distance between them. She took a moment, allowing her to focus on her body. Her grandfather stopped, twisting his neck slightly to the left, like an animal who is curious about whatever it is they are looking at. A moment later, Niku rushed forward once again, this time with more speed than earlier, having Opened her Senses which had the effect of boosting her speed. Her grandfather stood, waiting for the kunoichi to close the distance.

As Niku stepped about two feet away, her grandfather lifted his right foot as if to step. Niku altered her direction, cutting to her left, in an attempt to cut him off. With his right foot almost to the ground, her grandfather pivoted on his left foot, taking off to his left. Niku was going the wrong direction and at her speed, she couldn't very quickly turn to give chase. Her grandfather's feint had been expertly utilized and it frustrated her to no end as she slid to a stop, turned back to the grinning old man a few meters away and then once again dashed forward. The old man kept easily avoiding his granddaughter's advances, her speed, even enhanced with Open Senses, proving to be no match for her ancestor's.

In truth, that wasn't surprising to the kunoichi; she believed that she only caught her grandfather when he allowed her to. The point of the game was not to catch him, it was to continually push herself to move faster. For that purpose, her grandfather had to move at speeds that Niku could almost reach, but not quite. Of course, these weights did slow Niku down as she continually chased her grandfather around the yard. He threw in feints and jukes to throw Niku off, and while some of them were terribly effective, like earlier, Niku had seen some of them before and wasn't always completely tricked. The two Inkens had smiles on their faces as they chased each other at speeds that most animals could never hope to match.

Niku finally caught her grandfather with a tree between them, to block their view of each other. The two speedsters opted to go the same way and she was able to get a hand on him. "Ok, my turn." Niku backed away, she could already feel her body getting tired, a combination of the extensive exercise, the weights she was wearing, and the Open Senses technique all wearing on her physical stamina heavily. With a nod, Niku was ready and her grandfather rushed towards her. Rather than run in a straight line, he weaved left and right, trying to make it more difficult for the kunoichi to decide on a plan of evasion. She continued backing up, before turning away from her grandfather and running straight towards a tree.

Using the Tree Walking technique, Niku did a front flip, placing both feet on the tree and heading straight up the tree, about 30 feet. Her grandfather didn't hesitate, using her own speed and strength to rush up the tree as well. Of course, without chakra, he had to work a bit harder to accomplish the same feat. Niku, realizing he was about to catch up to her, leapt to another tree, before rushing even further up the tree. Despite her desire to evade her grandfather, she was impressed at what he could accomplish without chakra, and at his age.

His momentum slowing, her grandfather allowed himself to slide down the tree, pushing off from one tree to another to allow himself down more steadily. Niku's face had the largest smile spread across it. This was the first time she'd gotten into a position where her grandfather couldn't catch her... or so she thought. Once on the ground, the old samurai rushed towards the base of the tree that Niku was in. Niku watched, wondering if he could possibly make it all the way up to where she was with momentum alone. She then realized that he had different plans in mind; with a lightning fast draw, her grandfather's blade severed the part of the tree that Niku was attached to from the trunk and roots that were hidden underground. Niku hadn't considered that option and as the tree began to fall, she realized she needed to move before crashing into the earth. With a leap, she landed on the ground, her acrobatic training kicking in, she rolled to lessen the blow from that high in the tree. She looked up from her rolled position, only to see her grandfather standing right in front of her.

With a tap on the forehead, the samurai spoke "Got ya."
Last edited by Servant on Sun Sep 01, 2019 9:29 am, edited 18 times in total.
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Post by Servant » Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:23 pm

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[Skitter Step • Synesthesia]
B-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Skitter Step • All Senses Open] or advancement
In order to handle the large assortment of information entering her mind, Niku's brain has developed the ability to display all of the sensory information in a single format. Sensory information will resemble a mini-map in her visual field, light blue, out of focus dots indicating the general direction of sensed chakra sources; once she gets in a range to which she can sense the source more accurately, the dots will become brighter and more defined. While the map includes no topographical information, it does automatically reorient itself as Niku changes directions.
1084/1080 words

Niku was jogging to the center of the market, her heart beating a bit faster than the exercise that she was doing warranted. In truth, she was excited about her own plan, exhilarated even. Usually, someone told her what to do and how to do it; whether they acted as a 'sage on the stage' or a 'guide on the side', Niku had always been led to the desired effects of a mentor figure. But now, she was creating her own techniques and it meant she was traveling on a path that she'd never really used before. The idea alone got her heart beating as she went over her idea as she got her body all warmed up.

Normally, when I sense and combine that with Skitter Step, I have to choose which to focus on. Like, I can see the chakra sources or I can see what's in front of me, but either way I lose focus on the other one. My plan is to practice so much that I'm able to spread my focus to both evenly enough that I don't lose sight of either. That's the plan at least.

Arriving to the center of the bustling market, Niku found a corner to lean in. She closed her eyes and focused on her own chakra, then on the chakra around her, slowly moving her focus on chakra further and further away. She now felt confident that she'd successfully activated Beyond Senses, the most basic Mind's Eye technique one could learn. She could sense the vendors right beside her, as well as the customers strolling through the market. Niku was still new to sensing and activating the techniques were still exciting to her. She then began opening her senses, as Skitter Step focused on. Just a moment later, Niku's eyes were open but she could still sense the chakra around her. Of course, the thing she'd forgotten was the onslaught of smells and sounds that also assailed her at the moment with her senses open and all the people nearby.

Despite that, Niku tried to focus on a person walking by, an attractive young man, and particularly his tunic. At the same time, she tried to focus on the man's chakra source as his purple tunic perused a tent of nice wooden wind chimes. Niku knew from her vision that he was too far away for her to accurately sense his chakra, but she should be able to at least sense that there was chakra in that direction. As the man moved on, Niku picked a new target, a child with a lollipop following her mother around. Niku once again tried visually focusing on something unique, in this case the girl's lollipop, and sense her chakra. Niku hoped by attempting to focus on both aspects of a single target, she'd grow more acclimated to splitting her focus between the two.

The girl came nearer, Niku could sense the girl's chakra, but she it still felt more like her mind was toggling between eyes and Mind's Eye rather than utilizing both in conjunction. She wanted to get to the place where her mind just put the two senses together and she hoped it was like Iaido, practice makes perfect. Sadly, she was already feeling the strain that sensing was putting on her body and chakra supply.

Three days later...

Niku, once again, found herself in the market. Her mind was concentrating on the various chakra signatures around her before she entered the Skitter Step stance that she'd designed to incorporate Mind's Eye. She began walking through the market, attempting to count people that she saw and chakra signatures that she sensed. She understood that her opened vision was superior to her opened Mind's Eye, but Niku felt like she was becoming more adept at utilizing both senses than days earlier, but it still wasn't satisfactory to her. It still felt like something was off with the technique.

Niku continued through the market, allowing her mind to grow accustomed to the sensory information and how to handle it. The smells were the worst and the sounds were louder than she'd like while training, but she mostly focused on the vision and sensory. There has to be some way to master the use of both senses simultaneously, the kunoichi angrily thought to herself as she slid through the market crowd.

Three more days later...

Tired of being a market stalker, Niku decided to visit the Academy. There were plenty of people and things going on there, so it would suffice for this type of training. Sitting down and closing her eyes, Niku once again activated her Mind's Eye. After a moment for her mind to settle, she Opened All of her Senses. After another moment, Niku opened her eyes allowing them to adjust to the sun's rays. She looked out to the youngsters as they ran and practiced basic taijutsu maneuvers. At first, everything seemed normal, just like the last few days: her focus had to toggle between her eyes and Mind's Eye. But after a second, Niku noticed a light blue dot in the lower corner of her vision. No matter how she turned her head, it remained in the same part of her visual field.

After a moment, Niku realized that the dot was actually the group of children in front of her. At this distance, she couldn't sense one little squirt from the other, which is why the dot seemed so large but ill defined. She hopped up and rushed towards them, keeping a bit of her attention on the dot in her visual field. Sure enough, once she reached the children, the fuzzy blue dot turned into seven solid dots, spread out around her. There was no denying that Niku had finally made a breakthrough.

The children were happy to have such a graduate to play with and they all chased her around the playground. Niku moved around, evading her would be 'captors' but continuing to focus on the 'display' in her visual field. Because the students were so slow (in relation to the almost chuunin who focused primarily on speed), she could 'see' one of the chakra sources coming from behind her and still have time to evade. Even against a group of fifteen, Niku could keep track of all of them with relative ease. Niku began enjoying her newfound capability, as well as the children who were trying to get her. The new path she was forging was exhilarating indeed.
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Post by Servant » Sun Jul 21, 2019 3:28 pm

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[Skitter Step • Feel the Air]
A-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: A form of Senses Open active
Having practiced so extensively with her senses opened, Niku has become able to feel the difference in air pressure around her. Any time an object, person, or jutsu moves at a speed higher than 20, within a number of meters equal to her instinct stat, Niku can feel the air in her vicinity move and determine in which direction it is moving. This allows Niku to know if something is moving towards her or away from her, at what speed it is moving, and roughly how large it is.
1341/1300 words

The young kunoichi lay in the grass, her head propped up slightly by her right arm as she peered skyward at the moving clouds. Rays of light shone through them, causing a unique display of light, shadow, and cloudy billowiness. Niku had grown quite comfortable with her Senses Opened as she'd been practicing Skitter Step for quite some time now. Even now, completely still, she could hear the crickets as they leapt from blade of grass to blade of grass, leaves, about 15 meters away, rustling against each other with the slight breeze. She could make out every billow in the clouds with her open vision. There was no denying the capabilities that the style provided her, but she felt like there was more within her grasp. Closing her eyes, Niku allowed her brain to focus on one of her other senses.

She could feel the grass tickling her uncovered legs and arms. She could feel the breeze sliding across her face. For an instant, she could have sworn she felt the Earth's rotation as well. The air? I can feel it move... She was at a realization, everyone could feel the air move, but if she could train herself to be aware of the air's movement on a level much higher than normal people, maybe... just maybe, she could turn it into some sort of heightened awareness ability, A danger sense, if you will. Coming to a seated position, Niku began focusing on the feeling of air around her. She could feel the seemingly chaotic nature of the wind as it went to and fro, seemingly confused on where it should be going.

After nearly an hour of just feeling the air move, she realized something... the air doesn't just move of its own accord. In some rather vague, unscientific terms, Niku began to grasp the basics of the Butterfly Effect. With her eyes still closed, Niku stood, placing a hand on the hilt of one of her wakizashis while the other hand went to the scabbard. Still focusing on the air, Niku drew and sheathed her blade with blinding speed. She could feel the air move, seemingly attempting to fill the void created by the blade, but this was only the beginning.

The next day...
Niku stood, blindfolded in the middle of a well-maintained field. The fastest person she knew, her grandfather stood a few meters away. She had asked him to help with her training. "Ok, begin, she told her grandfather. The breeze was mild, but she could feel the air move towards where her grandfather had been. She knew that'd he moved, the air told her that already, but she couldn't really tell where he'd moved to. If this was going to work as Niku imagined, she would need to develop the skill considerably further.

After a couple hours, Niku, despite standing still, had sweat pouring from her brow. The intense concentration she'd been putting into training this new skill was wearing her out and while her grandfather was proud to see his granddaughter putting so much work into something, he wondered if it was time to stop. For once, this was Niku's training and not his, so he allowed her to continue until she suggested a break. It was becoming relatively easy for Niku to determine where the air was rushing to, where the largest amount of space needed to be refilled with air. However, she was still having trouble pinpointing where her grandfather was moving to, or the path that he was taking for that matter.

Niku was fairly certain that this was possible, it was just a much more subtle change in the flow of the air than the refilling of empty space. She had noted, however, that the faster her grandfather moved, the faster the air moved to fill the gap. Oppositely, if he moved slowly enough, she couldn't tell if he'd moved at all, until he playfully flicked her in the forehead. It was good to know the limitations of her own skills; this skill seemed ineffective against slow moving targets, but that didn't bother her really, because her eyes could handle those.

Later that evening...
Niku lay in bed, going over the training that had occurred that day. "I can easily tell when he moves, but its hard to read the air. It's like I can feel the air moving, but its hard to focus on the more minute movements of the air with the large gust of air moving to his initial placement." She paused, replaying the sensations of the earlier training. "Maybe I should just keep practicing, like with Iaido draws, doesn't happen overnight." She rolled over, trying to force herself to sleep. As the dreamworld and the real world slowly traded places, a thought crossed through Niku's mind: Constant motion would make it easier to overcome the initial air rush. In her hazy state, it seemed like a good idea and she tried to repeat it over and over as she drifted off in hopes that she'd remember it in the morning.

Said next morning...
Niku woke up, feeling refreshed. She remembered having some weird dreams, but she didn't remember anything specific. She then had this nagging feeling that she'd been trying to remember something from the night before. An hour later, as she was brushing her hair, she remembered Constant motion! She rushed through the rest of her morning routine before heading to her grandfather's to resume their training.

Once again in a field, blindfolded, Niku focused on her sense of touch. She focused on the air as it flitted across her skin. "Ok." With that single word, her grandfather began moving in a circle around Niku, never completely stopping, but changing the pace as he chose. She focused on the air once more, feeling it move and flow with the movements of her grandfather. The constant motion did, in fact, help Niku focus on the movements of the air rather than a large pulling in of air. So far, she'd always been focusing on the air being pulled in to fill the empty space, but as she focused on the air, she realized that the movement also resulted in pushing air out of the way. It was a much more minute movement and harder to differentiate at first, but the more she experienced this feeling, the easier and easier it became.

While it was inherently different than watching her grandfather circle around her, she was beginning to clearly be able to determine where he was and which direction he was moving. She could even pretty accurately determine when he slowed or picked up pace. This was proving rather promising. Of course, she'd need to be able to keep up this level of air awareness when her eyes were open. For now, she wanted to try something else. Removing a kunai from her satchel, she tossed it in front of her. The kunai remained oriented with the tip facing down so that her grandfather could easily grab the weapon.

Without needing any instruction, her grandfather threw the kunai with all his might about a foot to Niku's left. As soon as he released the weapon, Niku could feel the air being pushed out of the weapon's way as it speedily came rushing towards her. She could even determine where the weapon was going, darting her left hand out in an attempt to catch the kunai. Her fingers, however, were too slow, just barely grazing the ring at the back of the weapon.

A surprised look crossed her grandfather's face, before he could shove it away. He was glad his granddaughter was blindfolded and hadn't seen his face. He hadn't expected her to be able to react to the weapon, let alone almost catch it. Her speed is still lacking, but her senses are quite sharp.

"Aw dang, I almost caught it!" Niku cried out, the tone clearly some combination of frustrated and amused.

"If you say so," her grandfather responded, before returning to circling around his disciple.
Last edited by Servant on Sat Aug 24, 2019 2:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Servant » Sun Jul 21, 2019 3:28 pm

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[Skitter Step • Master of Speed]
A-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Having devoted her life to speed, Niku has become a master of speed itself. Utilizing a 50 point scale, Niku is more readily able to compare the speed of things, people or jutsu that are in motion, as long as they don't exceed her own instinct stat. The scale is also useful for choosing her own speed, allowing her the ability to move at any speed which doesn't exceed her own speed stat.
1330/1300 words

Niku's pony tail flapped in the wind as the young girl trotted through the forest. She peered through the trees as some birds flew away from her. Niku was glad to be out and about, just enjoying the wilderness. Squirrels were doing their thing, playing and chasing each other from tree to tree, gathering nuts. They didn't seem to mind the girl at all, unless she got close enough, of course. She began thinking about what her grandfather had recently taught her, about a scale by which to judge speed. He'd also tried to teach her how to utilize that scale to control her own speed. He'd allowed her to pick speeds and he had run at that speed. It had actually been pretty cool. She said 14 and he ran, she said 13 and he ran, but even Niku could tell that it was slightly slower than the speed he'd previously run. She had then said 15, to see if she could tell the difference.

Watching her grandfather race around the yard, she felt like it was faster than when he'd run at 14, but a part of her wondered if she thought that just because she knew that it was supposed to be faster. Despite that, Niku continued giving numbers and watching her grandfather. She was slowly beginning to see the differences in speed. After nearly an hour of just observing her grandfather move at different speeds, Niku had headed out, letting all of the lesson ruminate in her mind as she trotted through the forest. She couldn't help but rate the speeds of the birds, "Eight," she said seeing a robin fly out from a small bush that she was passing by.

"Twelve," she exclaimed, surprised to see such a fast hawk fly overhead. Even the squirrels were subject to her assessment, "Seven." Her numbers were likely inaccurate as she'd just learned about the scale and hadn't truly grasped its usage just yet. Still, the idea of applying numbers to speeds was actually something she really liked. She almost equated it to being like one of those tricks the circus people do, where they guess your weight just by looking at you. If she could really master this skill, she'd always know how fast attackers were or how slow her teammates were. It definitely has its uses, she noted as she continued down the path.

It then dawned on her that her grandfather used this technique all the time when they played tag, that was how he was able to avoid her so easily. He could tell just how fast she was and then alter his own speed accordingly. It wasn't just some vague amount faster for him, it was a whole number faster. In a way, Niku felt like he'd been cheating all these years, but in another, it just made her even more impressed with her grandfather's skills and abilities. Now she was really motivated to learn this technique.

The following day...
After practicing all afternoon and evening, Niku was back at her grandfather's and, once again, watching her grandfather run around the yard. This time, however, he was running at a speed of his own choosing and then quizzing Niku. With a skid, Niku's grandfather came to a stop in front of her. "Well?" he asked, waiting for Niku to pick a number.

"Twenty five?" she said, her tone more questioning than stating. Her lack of confidence was ever evident.

"No, but closer than the last one," he said, no hint of humor in his tone or facial features. He turned to his left and took off once more. She watched closely, mentally comparing to all of the speeds that he ran the day before. It had gotten easier for her to get close. She was pretty confident he was moving somewhere in the 20s, but more specifically, she just wasn't sure. It was definitely faster than just a moment ago.

"Twenty five?" she said, her tone more confident than last time.

"Ho, not bad," his tone one of feigned surprise. Niku smiled nonetheless. He had purposely chosen that speed because she'd just chosen it.

"Last one was twenty three?" she asked. This time, there was no need for the old man to feign anything. Niku was proving to be more adept at picking up the scale than he had been when he'd learned it. This was the first thing that the old samurai could remember teaching his granddaughter and her picking it up more easily than he had.

"Correct." The grandfather rushed off, pushing himself to his upper limits. He was confident that she wouldn't be able to gauge the speed, as she herself hadn't reached. He knew from personal experience that the technique wasn't functional at speeds that the practitioner couldn't accomplish on their own. Niku watched, her jaw dropping as she did. In all her training, she'd never seen her grandfather move that quickly and there was no way for her to comprehend the speed, let alone attempt to gauge it.

The man stopped, a small grin on his face as he took in his granddaughter. It took her a moment to collect herself, simply shaking her head in the negative, as if she couldn't truly form the words to respond to the speed he'd just utilized. "Meaning?" Niku tilted her head, somewhat confused. Meaning what? I can't tell how fast he's going... it was too fast for me to really see, let alone attempt to gauge on his scale. Oh! she realized as she thought it through. "Meaning, I can't gauge speeds beyond my comprehension. I need to get faster!" A small nod from the man, glad that his granddaughter understood the shortcomings of the technique if she was going to utilize it.

A week later...
"Twenty three," the man called. His granddaughter slowed down to match the speed her grandfather had called. The pair had moved Niku's training from the gauging of speed phase to the choosing speed. Being able to determine the opponent's speed was useless if you couldn't actively use that information to tailor your own speed in accordance. "I said twenty three" he called out, indicating to his granddaughter that she was still going too fast. She slowed down some more, properly reaching a speed of 23. "Eight."

Its one thing to see things and gauge their speed cause you can utilize the surroundings and background as a reference, but its a good bit more difficult to gauge my own speed while in motion cause there are no references to utilize, Niku thought to herself as she slowed down even more to match the latest speed called from her grandfather. It feels so weird going this slow after the speeds I've reached, she mused as she continued slowing down. Once she reached the speed she believed to be 8, she looked to her grandfather. Without any sort of affirmation, he called out another number.

"Seventeen."

This time, Niku had to push her body in order to speed back up. Her body was slow to respond, acceleration always seeming to be one of her weakest points. Eventually, her speed reached 17 and she maintained that speed for a few moments, proving to her grandfather that she was truly capable of matching the speed from his scale.

"Alright... the man said as he stood up, leaning back with his hands on his hips as if stretching his back, a habit he'd picked up with old age and sore bones. "now the real test." With that, the old man took off towards Niku at a speed that he knew she could physically match, the test was to see if she could match it as it came towards her. Niku gauged her grandfather's speed to be 24 and began backing up as quickly as she could. Within a moment, the two were moving at identical speeds, her grandfather no longer closing the distance between them.

She had passed the test.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Sep 26, 2019 1:15 pm

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*[Flawless Aim Style • Intercepting Shot]
B-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
The practitioner is able to launch a projectile in the direct path of an oncoming solid mass attack. This projectile carries with it the full force of the one who launched it and is intended to deflect or destroy the attack before it comes near them. The user’s stats must be capable of tracking and intercepting the attack as well as deflecting it.
915/900 words

Niku's chuunin exam had gone pretty well; at least, she'd passed. The exam had brought a realization to her mind though, she wasn't always going to be fast enough to charge a foe and even if she was, doesn't necessarily mean they won't be utilizing some sort of subterfuge. She needed some sort of means of dealing with opponents from a distance or, at the least, a means of distracting foes while she charges at them. At first, she wanted to utilize ninjutsu for that, but she realized that it would be much quicker to learn to utilize projectiles for such a tactic.

For this reason, Niku had borrowed a bag of 30 kunai and was heading to the training ground. She had ideas for more exciting projectile, but she wanted to learn how to use projectiles before she forked over the cash to have some forged specifically for her. I may be a chuunin, but doesn't mean the money is rolling in yet. She knew she could throw a kunai with ease, the trick was hitting a moving target which is what she'd decided to work on today. She slipped her hand in the bag, grabbing two kunai with her little hands. She pulled them out, placing one in her off hand. She then reared back and threw the kunai towards the sky.

She waited a moment, until the kunai reached its maximum height and began turning back towards the earth, before moving her arm back once more. She watched the kunai closely before throwing the kunai with all her might. She zeroed in on the falling projectile in order to see how close her attack was. She watched as the two kunai missed by about four feet, the first landing tip down into the ground just a moment later. She didn't let the failure get her down, I'm branching out and trying new things, no one succeeds on their first time. She reached into the bag again, using the rings to pull three kunai out of the bag.

She aimed towards the sky again and let loose a kunai. She rearranged the other two kunai, one per hand, waiting for the first to begin its descent. After a moment, she threw the right kunai, watching intently to see if it crashed into the other. Seeing it barely miss, Niku reared her other arm back and fired the second kunai. It was tricky, she found, to account for the acceleration of the falling kunai and lead her aim accordingly. The second kunai, with a slight kling, hit the falling kunai, leading both to wobble in the air before falling to the earth.

The next day...
Niku had enrolled Tomo, a genin with considerable skill in projectile weaponry, to help her with her training. Hitting falling kunai was one thing, but hitting an oncoming one was a much more practical skill. "Alright, for the record, I'm not asking you to hit me with projectiles."

"What?! Lame, I'm out," the genin responded, a smile spreading across her face. Her hand reached into her pouch, removing four shuriken, her projectile of choice. Niku, standing about 30 meters away, readied herself, a kunai in each hand. She watched as she let loose two shuriken towards her, surprised at how effortless her form seemed and how quickly those shuriken were heading towards her. She ignored the outer one, as it was likely to miss her anyways, and aimed for the closer of the two, she threw the kunai with all the strength she could muster. The two metal objects, however, didn't interact, simply flying by each other never getting closer than a foot apart. The shuriken flew by Niku, missing her by a couple feet. "Closer than I expected."

"Not sure if you meant that as an insult or to cheer me up," she responded, nodding to Tomo to go again. With a shrug, the younger girl released two more shuriken towards her superior officer. Niku quickly drew two more kunai and readied her aim. The shuriken didn't move so fast that she couldn't perceive them and if she wanted to, she may even be able to catch them barehanded without any injury, but to hit them out of the air with a kunai was something else entirely. She threw one kunai before focusing on the other one, she then threw the second kunai and, just in case, she rolled to her right, ensuring that neither shuriken would hit her if her interceptions failed. The first kunai missed the shuriken by a hair's breadth while the second kunai made direct contact with the second shuriken, completely altering the projectile's trajectory.

"Nice one!" Tomo yelled out, as if she'd also performed some impressive feat. Niku was elated, but also worried it had been a fluke. It is possible that I just got lucky," she mused to herself as she motioned for Tomo to go again. This time, the genin wanted to try something different. She took aim with two more shuriken, throwing one on each side of Niku. She quickly realized what she'd done, a little grin growing on her face as she focused on one, throwing her kunai and then changing her focus to the other shuriken. Ignoring the kling of metal hitting metal, Niku threw the second kunai at the next shuriken. She watched intently as the two metal objects crashed into each other before falling harmlessly to the ground.

"I think you got the hang of this."
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Sep 26, 2019 3:56 pm

jutsuShow
*[Flawless Aim Style • Uncanny Shot]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Having advanced in their arts the practitioner is able to launch projectiles from inconceivable positions. No matter what position their body is in they’re capable of releasing attacks without any detriment to their aim. In addition, rapid adjustments such as dodging or spinning has no effect on their aim.
944/900 words

After training Flawless Aim's Intercepting Shot, Niku, with the aid of Tomo, was ready to learn some more Flawless Aim techniques. The two had been friends for a couple years and while Niku had managed to be promoted, Tomo was still awaiting her chance. Despite their new difference in rank, neither female acted any differently towards the other. While Niku had spent her genin years raising her ninjutsu skills, Tomo had learned how to incorporate her already impressive elemental techniques with projectile weaponry, specifically utilizing Flawless Aim. Despite being younger and a lower rank, Tomo still jumped at the opportunity to help Niku learn the projectile style.

Of course, Niku already had some skills that were able to be used for projectile usage, but they were more supplementary. On top of that, her natural physical abilities, from years of kenjutsu training, were quite excellent so she proved quite the adept student. Now that she had the accuracy to remove an incoming projectile's danger, she needed to work on doing so even in the midst of battle. Tomo began hurtling shuriken in Niku's general direction as Niku began evading the incoming projectiles. With her borrowed kunai, she began throwing the weapons at Tomo's shuriken. Most of her throws were misses, as her experience with projectiles up to that point had utilized a relatively stationary position. Now that she was moving and evading some shuriken, she was having trouble maintaining her aim on the shuriken's trajectory. She felt confident, though, that with more practice, she'd be able to manage it.

Niku and Tomo took a short break before preparing to go again. Tomo began with hurtling shuriken en masse towards Niku who began expertly dodging them and throwing kunai in an attempt to block the shots. Like their first attempt, none of Niku's kunai successfully deflected any of Tomo's shuriken. With the second complete failure, Niku realized that projectiles weren't just something you can pick up and be successful in. They were like the sword, practice was necessary to be even moderately successful.

The next day...
Niku sat amongst the trees alone, as Tomo had to go on a mission with her genin team. She realized there was no reason she couldn't practice alone. Moving through the trees, Niku began releasing kunai in the attempt of hitting the trees. Her first few were, notably, off the mark, missing the trees and falling to the earth below. However, as Niku got used to the speed and movement, her throws became more accurate and after ten or fifteen, Niku's kunai began hitting the trees. At first, they'd graze her her intended target, but after another fifteen attempts, her aim had improved to the point that the kunai were hitting the trees squarely in the trunk, nearly every time.

While Niku was pleased with her increasing accuracy in that regard, she also noted that she had been moving at a relatively steady pace and was aiming at stationary targets. She noted a younger tree, barely further around than her own leg, and took aim, loosing a kunai at the thinner target. The kunai hit the target, causing the little tree to shake and the leaves in the higher branches to fall from the tree. She stopped her forward movement and began aiming at the falling leaves. This is perfect: I can aim at small, moving objects while performing acrobatics in the trees.

Like with her other attempts, Niku found her aim to be lacking. The leaves were falling at a steady pace, so it was relatively easy to determine their trajectory, however, with Niku's constant movements and direction changes, she found herself missing more often than not. Despite that, she felt like she'd succeeded in finding a suitable means of seal training. If she needed more leaves, she could just aim higher at the branches which were smaller to shake them enough to cause leaves to fall. As the afternoon wore on, she found herself getting better as her muscles began to understand what worked and began to remember it. By the end of her training, almost all of the fallen leaves had been tore asunder by Niku's kunai.

The next day...
"Ok, Miss Chuunin, ready?" Tomo asked playfully.

"Time will tell, my little friend," a funny comment seeing as Tomo was actually about 2 inches taller and a bit more stout than Niku was. The two smiled at each other before both drew their weapons. It wasn't but a moment later that Tomo began hurling shuriken. Niku easily dodged the first couple, a simple step to the right and a flip left her free from the first set of projectiles. The next couple came her way and she leaped, loosing her own kunai, barely missing one of the shuriken.

Wow, that was way closer than the other day, Tomo mused as she let four shuriken fly at Niku. The samurai flung two kunai near simultaneously before flipping to her right and throwing a third kunai directly at Tomo. Her first two kunai made a kling sound as they deflected Tomo's shuriken, her flip ensuring she wasn't in the path of the other two. Tomo was a bit surprised, but easily launched a shuriken to intercept the incoming kunai. The genin was a bit astounded at how quickly Niku had picked it up, unaware of the hours the chuunin had spent the day before vigorously training in the woods. "Ok, I see you. Time for the real fun." The two kunoichi began launching projectiles at each other with reckless abandon, but both were able to dodge or deflect every one of them and the laughter could be heard nearby.
Last edited by Servant on Fri Sep 27, 2019 2:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Sep 26, 2019 9:57 pm

Jutsu to TrainShow
[Skitter Step • Smell ya Later]
B-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: a form of Senses Open active
After practicing with her Senses Opened, Niku has become able to differentiate the scents of individuals. This discipline allows Niku to track people by scent alone.
934/900 words

Niku couldn't believe that she was now a chuunin. She'd definitely grown as a shinobi, but it was still hard to believe that she had been promoted. Now, she could have three genin placed under her wing and she'd be in charge of training them and molding them into good shinobi. That idea terrified her, because she had no idea how to lead 3 little crappy shinobi. She also felt like she was less than qualified to teach other shinobi because she felt like her own skills in ninjutsu and genjutsu were terribly insufficient compared to some genin. She'd known some geniuses in her Academy days that could do more with ninjutsu than Niku could accomplish now, as a chuunin. Despite that fact, Niku was still comfortable with her skills, just not enough so to train others outside of her skill set.

Now that she was officially a chuunin, she could officially join Sekkoutai. However, that meant Niku would need to learn some techniques designed for tracking, which is why she was at the market. It was still busy morning time and Niku stood in the middle of the market, closing her eyes. She focused on her sense of smell, taking in the abundance of smells from the flowers that were being sold to the warm bread to the undeniable smell of animals which were used to help the market vendors move all of the products. While she was able to take in all the smells, she couldn't truly discern where most of them were coming from nor could she differentiate the weaker smells as they all seemed to merge with one another. Deciding to get serious, Niku entered her Senses Open stance. Her brain was much more capable of working through all the smells with this stance and she once again focused on the smells around her.

She could easily discern that the smell of flowers came from the north of where she was standing. The bread's aroma came from the west, slowly making its way through the market. The animals were all over, but she could tell some were to the east, Likely two or three of them and some were north as their smell seemed to pair itself with the smell of flowers that wafted her way. Of course, she could also hear the horse's as her hearing was heightened, but she tried focusing solely on the smells. After discerning the direction of the stronger scents, Niku tried unpacking the amalgamation of other smells. It was difficult as there were an abundance of smells, she quickly realized that someone who'd just walked by her had a loaf of the still warm bread, likely bought from the vendor to the west. There were vague minuscule scents of perfumes, likely from people who'd been by earlier. She even felt like she detected the scent of meat cooking.

The longer she stood there, the easier it became to pick out scents from the amalgamation of smells that wafted through the air. As she allowed her nose to peel away all of the environmental smells, Niku began to notice the scent of those around her, not just those with scent enhancing products, but the scents of everyone. There were minor, but distinct, differences in how the people smelled. Some had a more salty smell to them, likely from sweat, she presumed, while others a bit more sweet. It was, understandably, difficult to put into words as humans generally didn't have the capacity for this sort of smelling and therefore hadn't really created vocabulary to define it. All of that said, Niku was beginning to more easily be able to pick the scent of one person from the scent of another.

With her eyes still closed, she began to realize that she could determine the direction someone had gone. She picked out one scent and slowly took a step in the direction the scent seemed stronger. She also realized that she could theoretically go in the opposite direction to see where the person had gone, though there was no guarantee that the scent would hold out long enough to arrive where the person's trip had originated. Instead, she followed the stronger portion of the smell, sure that this would lead her to the person in question. With a good grasp on this person's aroma, she opened her eyes, allowing her to more easily navigate the busy market however, she kept her nose focused on the smell. She moved through the crowd, slipping by people and allowing others to move out of the way, following her nose.

A couple blocks later, she was no longer in a busy part of the village. There were still people walking around, but she had long since left the market's busiest area. She still followed the scent, curious if she was following some sweet lady to her house or a gentleman to his girlfriend's house. Maybe he bought her some of those fragrant flowers, she mused. The chuunin kept following the smell, convinced now that this could truly be a useful skill for Sekkoutai and herself. She came to a house, fairly certain the smell led inside. Without really thinking, she knocked. It was after the third knock that Niku realized this was crazy, what was she going to say? Excuse me, do you mind if I smell you, mam?

An elderly woman answered the door and Niku was certain that the scent she'd followed was in fact this woman's. Success! She then realized the lady was waiting for her to say something. "Uh, sorry, I must have the wrong house."
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Mon Sep 30, 2019 11:12 am

JutsuShow
[Flawless Aim Style • Chakram Mastery]
B-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Niku has completely mastered the Relative Directions meaning that she can utilize them for ranged combat as well as for unconventional usages, like melee combat, without fear of injuring herself.
478/400 words

She'd gotten the message just 8 minutes prior as she slid to a stop right in front of the blacksmith's workshop. Her breath was a little labored as she'd just sprinted from her house to the workshop, which sat on just about the exact opposite side of the village which is why it took the speedy chuunin nearly eight minutes to get there. The reason she'd rushed over was because her chakram, which she'd decided to name Relative Directions (purposely keeping with her directional naming scheme), had been completed and were ready to be picked up. "Hello?" she called after stepping through the door. A few moments later, Niku rushed out the door, heading for the nearest training ground to get used to her new weaponry.

Niku took the first one out of the holster which was strapped to her right thigh. She peered at the matte metal, slowly turning the weapon over in her hand. She was mesmerized by the weapon's craftsmanship, feeling the weapon's weight in her hand. She gripped the weapon like a sword's handle, tightly, quickly letting go as the weapon fell to the ground. "Wow, that's sharp!" she exclaimed as she reached her other hand into her satchel to pull out some gauze. After patching up her hand, she picked the weapon up off the ground. She used her index and middle finger along with her thumb to pick up the chakram as if pinching it, so as to avoid the sharpened edge. She swung her arm a couple times, acclimating herself to the weapon's weight. She then released the projectile, sending it towards the dummy in front of her. She was surprised at how easy it was to make the weapon fly smoothly and directly to where she'd intended.

She reached her left hand to the new holster strapped to her left thigh, pulling her newest weapon out into the open. She flicked her wrist a few times, feeling the ease at which she could give the ring more spin. She released the chakram into the air, using her right hand to catch the ring. Niku had successfully caught the ring utilizing its inner edge, rather than the sharpened outer edge. Doing so allowed her to easily grab the ring midflight and even spin it around. It was at that moment that Niku realized, if push came to shove, she could utilize a chakram in a manner similar to a dagger, up close and personal. She swung her arm as if slicing through an imaginary combatant.

As she hopped around the training ground, slicing and tossing her chakrams, she realized that the weapon could be used in so many different ways. It could be thrown vertically, horizontally, or at an angle, which would give the ring a curving trajectory. This was an interesting new toy to add to her arsenal of weaponry.
Last edited by Servant on Wed Oct 09, 2019 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Fri Oct 04, 2019 12:25 pm

Instinct x2 - 2098/2000

Niku had long since felt a deep connection to her armor, Dragon Skin. Even from the first time she held it, she felt some sort of inner power coming from the armor. At the time, she thought it was some sort of Placebo Effect, but as she grew more skilled and more focused, Niku began to realize that there really was some sort of amazing power within the armor. And while she may never fully know the truth, the armor was just a catalyst to unleash the power within Niku. It was an act of fate that allowed Niku and that armor to meet and their paths to forever become intertwined. But fate wasn't the only thing at play in Niku's destiny, her determination and hard work also helped her tremendously.

"Juggling?"

"Yeah, they say it helps with the mental aspect of projectiles., Tomo explained. Niku's face contorted in thought, I suppose that could make sense... if you can keep track of the multiple sharpened projectiles falling towards you, it would be easier to keep track of opponents on the battlefield. Niku thought, rationalizing Tomo's words.

Niku stepped a couple steps away, pulling out three of her Relative Directions. She moved one to her right hand, keeping the other two in her left. With a flick of her right wrist, she sent the chakram into the air. She watched the weapon's trajectory and swapped one of the remaining chakram to her right hand. She then sent that chakram into the air as well, before flicking the third one into the air right behind the second. As the first chakram headed back to her, she realized that the only safe place to catch the chakram was its inner edge, as the outer edge was particularly sharp. Rather than a soft catch, Niku jabbed her left hand inside the chakram, using the weapon's smoother edge to ensure a lack of injury. Before releasing the first chakram back into the air, Niku realized that she hadn't properly timed the flights of the second and third chakrams as they would, undoubtedly, return to her at about the same time.

The worry of trying to send the first one into the air and catch the other two at nearly the same time caused Niku to utilize a bit too much strength, sending the first chakram significantly higher than any of her other throws. With more height, also meant more time for the ring to travel off course, but Niku didn't worry about that as she focused on both falling rings at the moment. She decided to separate them, reaching high into the air with her right hand, plucking it from the air before lowering herself to grab the left one before it hit the ground. At this point, she realized that she'd already failed, as she was holding two rings at the same time which was strictly prohibited in juggling. Despite that, the young samurai tossed one chakram back into the air, waiting a moment, and then throwing the other one.

She then realized that the first chakram, due to her overuse of strength, was going to land about six feet behind her, with a turn and a few quick steps, Niku was underneath the falling ring. It was still tricky catching the rings, but she had little choice as the other two rings were already coming back down. She attempted to pinch the falling ring, hoping to keep the sharp edge away from the juncture between her thumb and index finger. Successfully catching the chakram, Niku tossed it back into the air, before reassessing the paths of the other two chakrams. The first was back a few feet, easily shifting her body to allow her to easily grasp the ring and return it back to flight. With a slight slide to her right, she easily captured the third chakram and threw it back into the air.

For the next 10 minutes, Niku kept moving about the grounds, keeping the three chakrams from touching the ground. At first, she'd struggled, but she had settled into a rhythm and maintained the juggling for the quite some time. She finally caught all three chakrams and looked to her friend. "Pretty good, right?" Niku asked, a proud smile across her face... until she saw the look on Tomo's face. "What?"

"Not bad, I guess... but I can juggle five shuriken without any trouble and I'm not the tai goddess among us." Tomo answered honestly, a little worried that she would upset Niku.

"Oh, yeah. I was just getting warmed up." Niku hadn't realized how exceptional Tomo was until that moment. Juggling was no easy task considering the sharp nature of the objects being juggled. She'd always thought that she was better at taijutsu and Tomo would be better at ninjutsu, but now it seemed that as the two shinobi grew, the distinction between their skills was less significant.

"Well for a warm up, yeah that was pretty good." Tomo answered. The truth was that it had taken Tomo nearly six months to work her way up to five shuriken, but she'd just assumed that Niku would be able to do five in a matter of minutes. The fact that it was a struggle for Niku made Tomo feel a bit better about how long it had taken her. She looked on as Niku pulled out a fourth chakram, feelings its weight in her hand as she swished it through the air. A moment later, the chakram went hurtling into the air. Niku purposely gave it some good force so that she'd have time to get the other three into the air before having to deal with catching the first one. She timed herself well, waiting almost the same amount of time between each toss, stepping to her right as she released the fourth chakram into the air.

Almost subconsciously, she began keeping track of the objects as they traveled through the air which is why, when she'd thrown the fourth one, she stepped to the right, as a means of placing herself better to catch the first chakram which was already making a downward descent. She stuck her hand out, catching the innermost part of the weapon and then sending back into the air, her feet once again moving simultaneously as her hands released the chakram. Her warm up, while a struggle at first, had taught her the best means of handling the flying chakrams and gotten her mind into the right place to handle all of the flying objects. Even with the addition of a fourth ring, Niku proved capable of maintaining all four rings with minimal movement and seemingly minimal effort.

Tomo watched in amazement. She'd always struggled with the addition of another item and Niku had managed it on her first try and without a struggle. A warm up indeed, Tomo thought to herself as a smile spread across her face. Niku continued catching and tossing the incredibly sharp objects not letting anything distract her from the task at hand. While her body handled the juggling, her mind realized how this could be helpful for a projectile user: the constant usage of the weapons gets your body used to the projectile's weight as well as increasing your hand eye coordination, meanwhile, the mental aspect of keeping track of multiple targets is exemplified by keeping track of all of the airborn projectiles. More projectiles allows a user to track more targets. Creative training, indeed. If these items were just balls, it wouldn't be nearly as difficult a task, but the fact that you have to focus heavily on a single one just to catch it safely really pushes a person to their concentration limits.

Without any complications, Niku felt like she was ready to include a fifth chakram, so her right hand quickly slid down to the holster on her right thigh. She quickly pulled the weapon out and sent it into the air, utilizing a shortened throw, mostly using her wrist rather than her arm. She did this because she had to hurry a bit in order to catch an incoming projectile. She managed to catch the next one, sending it into the air just like the others. Naturally, her rhythm was off due to including another chakram and she had some struggles to keep all five projectiles in the air at one time. Compared to just moments earlier, Niku was moving her feet a lot more, having to use her body position more to maintain her juggling. As the minutes wore on though, Niku got into a rhythm and managed to gain control of the experience. She had to admit that this many chakrams was pushing her own concentration.

Tomo didn't want to interrupt Niku's training, but she was also really glad for and proud of her friend. The things Niku could do impressed her fellow kunoichi and she was glad that despite her promotion, they'd maintained their friendship. Niku, the concentration having slowly torn apart her stamina, backed away quickly, allowing all five chakram to slice into the earth under gravity's pull. "Wow, that's a lot more tiring than I thought it'd be," Niku said as she plopped down on the ground, smiling at Tomo.

The next day...
Niku was alone today, but she was planning to pick up where she'd left off the day before. She already had five chakrams in her hands, mentally preparing herself for the juggling that lay ahead. With her right hand, Niku tossed the chakram high into the air. With her face looking skyward, she slid another chakram from her left hand to her right and sent it into the sky to join its partner. She repeated that process until the last chakram found itself spinning through the air. Her focus had been divided from the start, putting more focus on keeping track of the chakrams while in the air rather than putting all of her focus on the one that needed to be caught and thrown and then shifting to the next one that needed to be caught. Now, she tried keeping track of all five items as they flew, giving her an opportunity to shift her position accordingly in advance, if needed.

She also began throwing the rings with more purpose, rather than just getting them in the air and using her heightened speed to maintain the status quo, now she was trying to toss them so that they were closer together to alleviate the amount of movement needed. Even if one went a bit off course, she could toss the others closer to the errant one so her rhythm remained relatively steady. Of course, this was only possible because she was purposely tracking all of the chakrams' trajectories. The slight change in tactics proved the difference as in a matter of minutes, the chuunin kunoichi was juggling all five chakrams with ease. Even strong gusts of wind held no power over her juggling.

Like the day before, Niku's hand quickly removed a chakram from its holster, almost immediately sending it into the air. She now had all six of her chakrams in the air, she just wondered if she could keep up her rhythm with the added projectile. Where she'd struggled after adding a new item to the mix previously, today, Niku had little trouble. The rings expertly flew through the air before being caught and returned to the air, part of this newly developed skill came from Niku's general increase in skill with the weapon at hand. She no longer needed to focus so heavily on each chakram to catch it. As she had no more chakrams to add to the mix, Niku contemplated other means of increasing the difficulty that would still benefit her intended training.

A couple days later...
Tomo looked on totally flabbergasted as Niku came rushing up the road at near max speed. While the speed itself was impressive to the genin, she already knew that Niku was incredibly fast for a chuunin, so this wasn't what had her flabbergasted. No, it was Niku was juggling six chakrams while moving at such a speed. She seemed to have complete control over her projectiles, tossing them forward and at a height that allowed her to catch up to them and catch them without slowing down a bit. Even the rocky, root infested road didn't trip her up or slow her down. Even as she slowed when she approached Tomo, Niku had control of all six chakrams, keeping them up in the air as she said "Hey, what's up?"
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Oct 10, 2019 11:48 am

JutsuShow
[Skitter Step • Database]
B-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
Niku has trained her brain to file all relevant information that she's processed together and accurately recall that info in a near instantaneous manner. For example, if she were to smell a person's scent that she recognized, she could quickly match that scent with any other information that she may have previously gotten regarding it, including name, appearance, combat proclivities, village of origin, etc. While this is a taijutsu technique, it is still capable of filing information received from ninjutsu techniques allowing Niku to also file chakra signatures with this technique.
416/400 words

Niku's brain was tired as she lay atop her bed, staring at the ceiling. She'd spent most of the day patrolling outside the village's walls as a part of her new job with Sekkoutai, a branch of Mamorinuku. While she hadn't used Skitter Step all day, she'd used it for a good portion of her time out there and it had taken its toll on Niku. It was difficult because every time she caught the scent of someone, she had to track them down even if the scent was familiar to her. It had proven rather inefficient. To be fair, she was still a chuunin and a new recruit to the organization, but she also felt like the other members looked down on her. She just wanted to prove herself.

As she lay there, she began focusing on the scents of the other members of the organization. If she could remember which scent went with which person, then she could leave certain scents alone. She thought about Kinzaki's scent, it was a bit nutty but not overly so. There were some lighter aromas in there and she admitted to herself that it wasn't a bad smell. It was then that Niku realized she'd also used her sensory technique with Kinzaki around, meaning she knew his chakra signature too. If I can place all of that useful info together, then I could use three sensory methods to identify someone. That's awesome! she continued to compile all of the information she knew about Kinzaki From Konoha, I've heard he uses suiton techs with empathy.

After Kinzaki, Niku focused on Zakuro. His scent was a bit confusing, like a mixture of two things that normally never appear together. She paired that information with his chakra signature and his usage of the odd white and black chi. While she'd only experienced it once, she knew that Zakuro had decided not to use those skills unless extreme circumstances required it. Instead, Zakuro focused heavily on his impressive taijutsu skills as well as his strength. After him, she moved on to others that she'd met throughout the day which then led to all of the shinobi she'd ever met. She even included that frog guy who'd stolen her sword (before politely returning it), despite the fact that he wasn't a shinobi. It was mentally taxing creating a database from the vast experiences she'd encountered over her 3 years as a shinobi, but the prospect of its usefulness outweighed the exhaustion she felt.
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Inken Nikuya
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Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Oct 10, 2019 12:35 pm

JutsuShow
[Flawless Aim Style • Finger Shot]
B-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: Ninjutsu • Finger Pull
After the prerequisite, Niku can draw her hand forward in a single motion, releasing the adherence on the chakram at the exact moment to send the chakram hurtling forward at Niku's full strength. This technique can be combined with other chakram throwing maneuvers.
416/400 words

Ever since Niku's awakening as the Yellow Dragon, she'd realized that she could pick up new techniques much more quickly than before. She knew that it had caused her bodily control, speed, strength and instinct to increase considerably, but she hadn't made the connection that she'd be able to learn things more easily. Skills that had once seemed nearly impossible to learn were mastered in just a couple days. She was taking advantage of that now, training with her newest weapons, the Relative Directions.

The holster she'd designed made it difficult to draw a single chakram because they were pushed together. Meanwhile, she had little trouble drawing the weapon with a single finger, but doing so made it difficult to throw accurately with strength. If she changed her grip after drawing, then it became a bit more cumbersome of an activity than she was interested in. For that reason, she'd developed a ninjutsu technique that adhered the chakram to her finger. She channeled a bit of chakra to her right index finger, placing the finger on the chakram's outer surface. Then, as she moved her hand forward, the holster released the ring allowing Niku's hand to fling forward, sending the ring hurtling forward. This was exactly the type of quick draw that Niku was interested in, however, the flying chakram had missed its mark so Niku would need to keep practicing.

Her first attempt had been short, landing a couple feet in front of the dummy that she was taking aim at. Just means I need to release the chakra a little later, she contemplated. She reached her hand back to the chakram, adhering it to her fingertip with her own chakra. Her ability to move her hands quickly had been built through Iaido and while this was a slightly different motion, it was still much quicker than a normal person who'd never tried throwing a chakram in this manner before.

As her hand moved forward, she released the adherence allowing the bladed ring to fly forward. The chakram barely grazed the dummy's head as it flew by. Without a moment's hesitation, Niku's hand went back to the holster on her right thigh. It was the last chakram left, though she still had the other holster which held 3 of its own identical chakrams. With the ring adhered to her finger, Niku deftly swung her arm forward, releasing the chakra in order to send the chakram forward. The chakram hit the dummy squarely in the chest.
Last edited by Servant on Fri Oct 18, 2019 11:58 am, edited 2 times in total.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
[color=#Fc0fc0]
Yamanaka Yaya
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Mon Oct 14, 2019 12:58 pm

Personal ReferenceShow
Grandfather's stats:
  • Ninjutsu: 1
  • Taijutsu: 35
  • Genjutsu: 1
  • Stamina: 29
  • Control: 1
  • Strength: 30
  • Speed: 45
  • Instinct: 38
Niku didn't really understand what had happened. There was something within her armor, Dragon's Skin. It wasn't something physical, but something more intangible, something that was drawing her to it. She'd ignored it for a few months, just reveling in her new rank of chuunin. She could order genin around... and they listened. But now, the pull towards that energy inside her armor had grown stronger. She wasn't sure what had changed, but one evening, she'd allowed herself to investigate. The only thing she knew to do was put her chakra into the armor - it was the only form of energy she knew of and she wondered what would happen. As it turned out, Niku's instincts were spot on as the energy within the armor attached itself to Niku's very being.

She woke up nearly 24 hours later, still in the same spot and position that she'd been in the last time she remembered anything. The energy which once resided in her armor, she now felt it within herself, she felt it and it was much stronger than it had been when in her armor. She was thoroughly worried that she'd been infected by some sort of spirit, now trying to take over her body. With that worry, she rushed out of her house towards Tenzin Sensei's house. He was one of the most well versed shinobi and, she figured, if he couldn't help her then he would surely know who to turn to. But, as she was moving along the path, she realized that she was moving more quickly than she'd ever moved before. Not only that, but Niku began to realize that her body was much easier to control, it was like she'd accomplished an entire year's worth of training in the span of one night. Her body moved exactly as Niku wanted it to and she noticed more things about the world as she rushed through it. Her natural (as opposed to the unnatural means through Skitter Step) ability to take in information had been heightened as well. It was like her whole body had been refined to a point that Niku had barely even imagined.

With that, she slowed as her fear of what had happened to her waned and her fascination grew. She stopped completely and moved over to a large rock. Just looking at it, Niku knew it was far heavier than anything she'd been able to lift prior to her 'Awakening' as she began to think of it. Putting her hands underneath the rock's curve, she started trying to lift it. At first, she just barely tried, thinking there was no way she could muster the strength to move the rock at all; however, she felt the rock move in her hands. Inspired by the movement, Niku put all her strength into it, lifting the large rock up to chest level. It was still pretty heavy, Niku realized, but she was amazed at how much her body had miraculously grown. She dropped the rock, a new thought entering her head. If she was far stronger, faster, more agile, and more keen, maybe she was capable of finally catching her grandfather in one of their games of tag. She turned towards his house and headed that direction. As she ran, the energy within her that once felt foreign was beginning to feel less foreign and more like a normal part of her body.

She used the technique1 her Grandfather had taught her to control her own speed, purposely lowering it to the speed she'd used to run at, just in case the man was standing outside as she arrived. I don't want to give away my new speed before our game has begun. She went up to the door, knocking lightly before entering, as she always did. If he didn't want guests, he kept the door locked. She found him at the table, eating his breakfast. "Good morning Grandfather. How are you doing this morning?"

The old man looked at her suspiciously. He knew his granddaughter all too well and he could tell she was up to something or wanted to show him something. "Fine." His gaze never left the young girl as she sat in front of him.

"Good to hear. I just came over for some training, woke up feeling really good so wanted to train in top form." A little giggle slipped out of her mouth after her last statement. The two stare at each other, one of them knowing the other was up to something and the other trying her hardest to keep her secret.

"Alright. I'll be done soon." He went back to eating, wondering what his granddaughter was up to. Taijutsu wasn't the type of thing that you can develop a trick for and instantly be better. It involved continually working hard and training your body to perform, unlock some of those ninja techniques that were all about changing reality. He noted that in all their years of training, despite her growth as a shinobi, she'd never once tried to utilize those skills in their training. In fact, he really had no idea what kind of ninja skills she had learned throughout her career.

Outside, the two stood about twenty feet apart. The older of the two nodded, giving his assent to the beginning of their game. It was a simple game of tag, but by forcing Niku to chase an opponent that she could never ascertain, she'd always pushed herself to move faster. Niku took a slow step forward, as if challenging her grandfather to make a move. He didn't so much as flinch at the obvious provocation. She took another slow step followed by the same lack of a reaction. Then, with all her newfound strength, she launched herself forward as quickly as she could, straight at the old man who'd never even once allowed his granddaughter to catch him while they played tag. Her acceleration was shocking to the old samurai. A couple days ago, she couldn't move like that, he mused, easily stepping back at an acceleration matching his granddaughter.

The fact that he could match her acceleration irked Niku, but she just kept speeding up. Once again, the old samurai was shocked. What has she done? She wasn't nearly this fast last time we trained. Despite the young shinobi's speed, she couldn't catch him. He could match her acceleration and top speed which caused Niku to feel like this newfound power was useless. She continued the chase for a couple minutes, before Niku stopped, quickly followed by her grandfather stopping. She took a moment, before entering her Skitter Step stance2 which she knew boosted her speed slightly. She had no idea if this would give her the speed needed to catch him, but it was the fastest she could go and she wanted to know truly how far away she was from him.

Her grandfather recognized what she was doing and he knew how fast she was going before so it didn't take someone of his caliber to put two and two together. We're gonna be the same speed... the old man was utterly surprised. He had actually wondered if his granddaughter would ever actually reach his level and he'd never considered it would happen overnight. He had no idea what his granddaughter had done to receive such a boost so quickly, but he now put all his power into evading her. They may be moving at the same speed, but his observations told him that he could still out accelerate her due to his advantage in strength. He would just have to focus. She rushed at him, now matching his impressive 45 strength, however, as the samurai had predicted, her acceleration hadn't increased. He could continue to change directions, forcing the two of them to constantly accelerate so that he could safely stay out of her reach.

Niku wasn't a dummy, realizing what her grandfather was doing and while she was considerably stronger than before, her acceleration still seemed to fail in comparison to her grandfather's. Every turn they made allowed the man to extend the distance between them. But something was bugging the old samurai How is she doing this? It's true my acceleration is superior, but she's keeping the distance almost the same. It's as if... she's reacting just a moment before I am. Could her reactions actually be faster than mine? He wondered, turning and evading his granddaughter... for another minute before she collapsed in exhaustion. Seems her stamina didn't get boosted, he mused, a small smirk showing on his face.

"Dang... I really... thought I... could get you," the kunoichi's breathing interrupting her words. Her head was still facing the ground as she gasped for breaths. The samurai looked down on her contemplating what he should do. Part of him wanted to tell her to go to Tea Country right now and see if she could accomplish the feat of learning the Ougi that he had never succeeded in learning, but part of him didn't want his student and granddaughter to surpass him just yet. He thought he'd have more time.

He waited a couple more minutes, providing the young girl with some water. "Tell me what's happened to you."

Niku looked at him, unsure of how to explain it. "I don't really know." His stern look told her that he wanted the best explanation she could give, so she began again. "I felt something within that armor you gave me." The samurai couldn't believe the words she'd said.

Could the prophecy be true?! Could she be...

"I didn't know what to do, so I infused the armor with some of my chakra. It must have knocked me out, cause when I came to, the energy was within me and much more powerful than before. Since then, I've found myself to be faster and stronger. It's crazy, right?"

The old man held his hand up, stopping the young girl from speaking any more. He had to think this over, this was too bizarre. When he was a boy, his grandmother had told him stories about the Inken ancestor that had killed the Yellow Dragon, taking its skin and making the armor that Niku now wore. The stories came rushing back to him as he contemplated his granddaughter's case. The story continued that as a blessing for killing the Yellow Dragon, one day his ancestor would inherit the Yellow Dragon's power. The old man had thought it could be him and that was why he'd always trained so hard, all his relatives had. As he'd gotten older, he thought the 'prophecy,' as his grandmother had called it, was just a legend designed to encourage the children to train hard. In fact, his disbelief of the prophecy had caused him to never even mention it to his son or granddaughter. Now, he wondered if she have.

"There may be an explanation..." he started, his tone indicating he was going to keep going. "but I didn't think it was real." Niku's head cocked to her left, unsure of what her grandfather was saying. "Well, I told you about that armor, Dragon's Skin, how one of our ancestors slayed the dragon and used its' pelt to create that armor." Niku nodded, having heard the story a couple times. It had made her appreciate the sentimental value of the armor and her grandfather's allowance of her to use it, though she, like her grandfather, hadn't put a lot of stock into the relevance of the story. "The story goes on to suggest that our family was blessed - that some day, one of us would inherit the dragon's power. Obviously, that's absurd..." he took a moment, as if giving his brain the time to find an answer to the question that he hadn't even asked. Coming up with no answer, he continued "... but, how else can we explain what's happened to you?" The question's tone clearly indicated to the chuunin that he was really asking himself as much as her.

I have a dragon's power? In me? the girl thought to herself, repeating the words but knowing that she didn't really understand what they meant. Am I some sort of hybrid creature now? Will boys still find me attractive? Is that even really a thing - dragon's power? that doesn't seem real. The samurai looked on as his granddaughter attempted to process the prophecy and come to terms with it. Will my children be dragon babies? The chuunin was so concerned about the future and how this would affect her love life that she hadn't taken any time to consider what other sorts of benefits may come with being the next Yellow Dragon.

"I cannot guarantee that you are the fulfillment of that prophecy though," the samurai stated, his tone indicating his uneasiness of even bringing the subject up. Niku realized that this was the first time in her entire life that she remembered her grandfather sounding so unsure of himself. To be honest, that freaked her out almost as much as the dragon's power within her. "All that aside, I think you may be capable of learning Iaido's strongest and most secretive technique."

"What, really? The one even you couldn't learn?!" Her tone clearly one of disbelief.

"Our last game has led me to believe that you are indeed ready. Your bodily control, speed, and reactions are at the level necessary to perform the technique." The smirk on Niku's face slowly developed into a grin before continuing into a smile. It, however, didn't stop there continuing to expand into one of the creepiest looks that had ever crossed the girl's face. The evolution of her expression caused a similar dissolution of the samurai's expression, as he got more annoying by the growing look on his granddaughter's face. It was as if he knew what was going through her head.

"So you're saying that I, the student, have finally surpassed you, the teacher? I'm now better than you, that's what you mean."

"I don't recall you catching me..." he responded, his tone as equally as annoyed as his facial expression. "In battle, I still hold the advantage." Niku's smile didn't waver, she knew what he said was true but she was also really pleased with her new physical capabilities and how closely she could now match her grandfather. The idea of surpassing him now actually seemed like a feasible goal, but it also meant she couldn't slack off now when she was so close.

"Alright, teach it to me," she said, determination clear in her voice.

"While I could probably teach you the basics and you could likely figure out the gist of it from there, I've never successfully performed the technique and you'd never know for sure if you'd perfected it if I were to teach it to you." The samurai didn't like admitting that he was no longer capable of teaching his granddaughter and while he was specifically referring to the single technique, he inwardly wondered if there was really anything else he could teach her. "You'll need to go to Tea Country, my home, and learn it from one of the masters there."

"Tea Country? I'm not sure they'll let me leave the country." Niku answered, referring to Konoha's higher ups. As a chuunin, she didn't feel like they'd just let her wander into Tea Country, even if it was an allied country. "But whatever it takes, I'll go to Tea Country and learn the Ougi, for you grandfather."

The man was proud to have helped raise such a strong granddaughter like the one before him, but he was still worried about the new power within her. He was worried that it would come with unforeseen dangers and cause many issues for his descendant. He just hoped she would be alright and continue to overcome all the obstacles before her.
Jutsu usedShow
  1. [Skitter Step • Master of Speed]
    A-Ranked Taijutsu Discipline
    Having devoted her life to speed, Niku has become a master of speed itself. Utilizing a 50 point scale, Niku is more readily able to compare the speed of things, people or jutsu that are in motion, as long as they don't exceed her own instinct stat. The scale is also useful for choosing her own speed, allowing her the ability to move at any speed which doesn't exceed her own speed stat.
  2. *[Skitter Step • Senses Open]
    C-Ranked Taijutsu Stance
    The main jutsu of the Skitter Step, Senses Open does exactly what the name states. The user takes a moment to focus their bodies, then releases it. While in this stance, the users sensory input is increased, allowing them to receive more information quickly. This causes a +2 in Taijutsu, and a +4 in speed, but a -3 in Ninjutsu and -3 in Control. This stance will remain in effect until deactivated by [Stop]. Practitioners of this technique will find themselves fidgetting and constantly moving, which can make it difficult for them to use this style while on stealth missions.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Fri Oct 18, 2019 12:40 pm

JutsuShow
[Flawless Aim Style • Angled Shot]
B-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Niku is able to throw her chakram at an angle somewhere between horizontal and vertical which causes the ring to have a curved path. Niku can use this altered path to cause the chakram to go around most obstacles, being able to accurately hit a target that is behind obstructions as if they were in the open. This technique can be combined with other chakram throwing maneuvers.
446/400 words

Niku's hand wavered over her chakram as it remained in its holster. She drew the weapon slowly, her mind thinking about the best way to throw the weapon. She placed her arm across her body, throwing the ring similarly to a frisbee. As her arm went forward, she released the chakram allowing to soar through the air, hitting the dummy's upper torso quite easily. She drew another chakram, throwing it horizontally again but this time her arm was beside her body, rather than moving in front of it. The chakram slid through the air like the sharpened blade it was, grazing the dummy's upper torso before moving past it. Niku realized that the chakram hadn't been perfectly even when she'd released it, causing the chakram's path to curve slightly to the right. Hmm, this could be very useful.

Niku drew two more chakrams, one per hand, and then threw both at differing angles towards the dummy. She realized that the closer the angle got to vertical, the sharper the curve. She reached into her holsters and pulled out the last two chakrams before sending them hurtling towards the dummy. It was evident to see how the angle of release affected the chakram, Niku just had to continue practicing so that she could perfect her use of those angles. She recalled all six chakrams and began again, trying out different angles in an attempt to curve them towards the dummy's upper torso. Some were close, grazing or just missing the target and some were considerably off, curving much more or less than Niku had anticipated. However, the longer she went, the more often she hit the target squarely in the chest.

A day later...
Niku had used one of her kunai to stick a piece of paper to a tree. She backed up through the forest, moving through the trees with effortless grace. She had kept track of where the target was as she'd moved away; now with a single tree between her and the target, she couldn't even see it. She took the chakram pulled her arm back and angling it slightly. Her goal was simple, curve the chakram around the tree and hit the paper. She threw the weapon, sliding to her left in order to see the target. The chakram came curving in, slicing the paper in two as it dug into the tree behind. Without thinking, she grabbed another chakram and threw it again to the right of the tree, giving it more angle as the ring would need to curve more from her current position. The second chakram clang into the first before falling to the ground. Her aim was spot on.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
[color=#Fc0fc0]
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Tue Nov 05, 2019 5:52 pm

JutsuShow
[Flawless Aim Style • Iaido Deflection Shot]
B-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: [Perception] and [Sword]
When a chakram is returning to Niku, she is able to draw one of her blades in order deflect the chakram back into flight. This flight has the same strength and speed as Niku's strength and, despite the unique means of launching, has the same accuracy as if Niku had thrown the weapon.
430/400 words

Niku was excited about the prospect of using her chakrams in battle, but she didn't know when that might actually happen. She had discovered that she could throw the chakram at an angle upward and it would curve and return back to her. While it wasn't likely to be useful in a fight, it was a fun way to practice getting used to the weapons in general. As if on instinct, when one was arriving back at her, Niku's hand slid to the handle of her wakizashi, unleashing the blade at amazing speed. The two weapons clanged together, sending the small chakram forward through the air as if it had been thrown. She hadn't realized, nor intended, for such a thing to happen. It made her realize that she could use that skill in combat to send the ring back out at an enemy much more quickly than they would assume.

Of course, if that were to be useful in combat, she'd have to perfect the aim in order to truly catch her targets off guard. She threw two more chakrams into the air at such an angle that they'd come back to her general position. Their angle of return was slightly different, she realized as she readied herself, meaning she'd have to alter her draw if she wanted to send the chakram at the dummy standing nearly 30 feet away. She eyed the first chakram, turning her body just slightly and drawing her blade somewhere between a vertical and horizontal slash. The sword's sharpened edge made a loud clang as it rendezvoused with the chakram's sharpened edge. The kinetic energy was transferred to the chakram, sending the weapon hurtling towards the dummy. Niku didn't really have time to watch the weapon, instead preparing for the next chakram.

This one was more angled than the last, requiring a much more horizontal slash to send the ring towards the dummy. She made the slash at near perfect timing, scanning her eyes towards the dummy. She was able to see just in time as the chakram skimmed through the dummy's midsection. Had it been a living person, it would've drawn blood, but wasn't likely to have been a severe injury. The second chakram, however, landed squarely in the dummy's chest, sending the dummy's stuffing in all directions. Taking one more chakram, she spun it into the air causing it float upward before descending slowly. With the same hand, Niku drew her wakizashi at the ring. It went hurtling at the dummy, clanging into the chakram that already rest in the dummy's chest.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Wed Jan 15, 2020 11:39 am

JutsuShow
Doton • Better Wall
C-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals, Niku will form a solid stone wall up to 10 meters away from her at a speed of 8. The wall has a strength of 12 and is 5x5x1.5 meters large.
302/300 words

After her training with Tenzin-sensei, Niku hadn't bothered to train any new doton techniques. While she had maintained those skills, she hadn't really developed any of her own techniques and ever since her awakening as the Yellow Dragon, Niku felt a stronger connection to the Earth. This connection had driven Niku's desire to improve her skills with the element, which was why the kunoichi was at the training ground. Her hands quickly weaved seals as a wall erupted from the earth beside her. With a light jab, she knocked a hole in the wall. She decided that a stronger wall would prove useful as even genin can break that one.

She focused on the chakra within her and the seals utilized for the D rank wall jutsu. Making a couple alterations and additions, Niku began a slightly altered string of handseals. She wasn't sure why, but the earth seemed much easier to control than when she'd learned her other techniques. It was as if it listened to her intent, but that was silly. After the seals, a wall formed a few feet in front of her. She noted that the wall was larger than the original and she hoped stronger. With a jab, she tested the wall's strength. It still crumbled under her strength, but she was pretty confident that it had provided more resistance than the original wall.

Content with her creation, Niku committed the string of hand seals to memory, running through them a few more times. The physical action helped her to memorize the seals, something Tenzin had taught her, and didn't eat away at her limited stamina due to not actually casting the technique. After that, Niku practiced the technique a few more times, her ability to cast the new jutsu had been perfected before she went home.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
[color=#Fc0fc0]
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Wed Jan 15, 2020 1:11 pm

JutsuShow
Doton • Stone Path
C-Rank Ninjutsu
After the handseals, Niku will tap her foot to the ground causing sixteen, 1m x 1m square stones about 3 inches wide to form along the ground at a speed of 5. The stones are no longer part of the ground, simply laying atop it, able to easily be picked up if desired. The stones have a strength of 15 and are laying about an inch apart from each other in a 4 x 4 pattern with Niku standing near the middle.
316/300 words

After mastering an improved wall, Niku wanted to keep going. She wanted to keep creating new techniques. She'd always thought about the possibility of utilizing her acrobatic skill in cooperation with Doton and that was what she was basing this new technique off of. With her eyes closed and her focus on the chakra flowing through her body, Niku began a string of handseals, utilizing them to give the chakra instructions. After she was done, she tapped her foot to the ground, pushing the built up chakra into it. She opened her eyes to watch her work; seeing the earth melt away, leaving numerous, square stones laying around her. Bending over, she slid her fingers under one square, lifting it up so she could examine her handiwork.

The stone proved more sturdy than either of the wall techniques that Niku had perfected, but it was created more slowly so Niku understood the payoff. Lifting the stone into the air, she felt its weight before shifting its weight between her two hands. Eventually letting it settle in just her left hand before she hurled it forward as if at a dummy. Niku decided the technique was sufficient and moved away from the stones she'd already created. Closing her eyes, she ran through the hand seals that she'd used, ensuring that she remembered them properly. Her hands followed suit, running through the seals before taking a couple seconds and then running through the seals again.

After feeling confident that her hands had memorized the proper seals, she once again performed the technique, utilizing the seals to inform her chakra as to her desire. Her eyes fluttered open as she watched the earth slowly form into stone panels. She feared that the stones formation was too slow to be useful, but she hoped she could circle back to them if necessary. Surrounding her now were numerous stones, perfectly square.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
[color=#Fc0fc0]
Yamanaka Yaya
[color=#3a6e38]
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Fri Jan 17, 2020 10:44 am

jutsuShow
*Doton • Great Wall
B-Rank Ninjutsu
After performing the correct hand seals the user will form a monolithic solid stone wall up to 15 meters away from them at a speed of 20. The wall has a strength of 20 and is 7x7x2 meters large, curving moderately concave to the user.
315/300 words

Niku was happy with the new techniques she created, but she still had a strong desire to make more powerful techniques. Her walls could easily be broken by most chuunin and that meant they posed little trouble to anyone on par with her. For that reason, Niku was working on creating a more powerful wall that could be more useful against foes. Of course, Niku knew this meant utilizing more chakra and, despite her awakening giving her increased physical capabilities, she had a rather limited chakra reserve; however, in her mind, this was a necessary technique to learn.

Mentally, she went through the hand seals for Better Wall, picking necessary places to include new seals and alter the order. Momentarily, Niku was pleased with her new string of hand seals, confident that they would lead to a wall that was better than the Better Wall. Closing her eyes and focusing on her chakra, Niku began going through the hand seals. About ten meters in front of her, a wall began emerging from the earth. Niku was surprised at how quickly the wall formed in comparison to her other wall techniques. She moved to the wall once it stopped growing. She looked at it, moving her neck from left to right. It was definitely an impressive wall, towering over her as it did.

She reared back and threw a punch, testing the wall's durability. The wall gave way under her power, but it was much too thick for her arm to come out the other side. This thicker wall gave more protection than it's strength indicated, pleasing Niku immensely. She theorized that even her blade wouldn't be able to come completely cut through the wall. Closing her eyes, Niku mentally went through the string of seals before doing so physically. She kept practicing the longer string until she was convinced that she had it down pat.
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Post by Servant » Fri Jan 17, 2020 12:07 pm

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*Fuuinjutsu • Minor Weapon Defense
D-Rank Storage & Force Fuuinjutsu
By having an empty scroll with a seal formula placed on it, the user is able to use the seal as a defensive measure. Holding a single, one-handed hand seal, the user attempts to block the incoming small sized weapon (kunai or smaller) with the scroll. Right before contact is actually made, the weapon will be sealed into the seal. This seal cannot be used multiple times, and if the incoming projectile has more than 5 strength, it will overpower it, making the technique useless.
410/400 words

Niku knew that she had become a fine swordsman as she was able to compete on near equal footing with her grandfather, the legend to which she'd never thought she could compare. That was mostly thanks to her awakening, but she wasn't content just being a swordsman: she wanted to be a fusion of both swordsman and shinobi, which meant she had to increase her ninja skills. She knew a couple fuuin, but she didn't know enough about fuuin to create the one she wanted: a fuuin that acted as a sheath for her swords. In order to achieve that mastery over fuuin, she was prepared to learn more techniques. With ink and paper, Niku slowly copied the illustration from the book onto a scroll. Her penmanship was by no means comparable to her swordsmanship, but she was quickly getting better the more she practiced.

After completing her seal, she went to the training ground to practice using her new fuuin. The book she'd been using described how to use the fuuin, even illustrating the necessary one handed seal needed to open the fuuin. Now, Niku just had to practice using it which would, she hoped, help her develop her own Sheath Seal soon. She lightly threw her chakram into the air, then used Desire's ability to recall it, mimicking a projectile being thrown at her. As it was returning, Niku held the scroll up, preparing her other hand to do the seal that the book had indicated. She'd practiced it as she'd come over to the training ground, so she was pretty confident that she was doing it correctly.

As the chakram neared the scroll, Niku did the seal, waiting to see if the chakram would be sucked into the fuuin. The book had indicated that the seal could be overpowered if the projectile had too much strength; luckily, Niku's control over Desire was still extremely limited and the chakram was returning at a low speed and strength so she wasn't too concerned about that. The chakram was absorbed into the seal, 'protecting' Niku from the projectile. It is actually a pretty cool way to use a basic storage fuuin, she thought.

With a bit of chakra, the seal released the chakram and Niku threw the paper to the ground. From her satchel she pulled out another scroll with the same fuuin on it. She'd prepared four, for practice purposes. She kept practicing until she was out of scrolls.
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Post by Servant » Fri Jan 17, 2020 3:56 pm

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*Fuuinjutsu • Tattoo
D-Rank Storage Fuuinjutsu
Developed for clandestine operations originally, instead of using ink and paper, the user draws a seal onto their body the size of the item they are sealing into their body. Upon doing a set of hand seals, the user then slides the item into the tattoo and performs a second seal, causing the seal to go dormant. When kai'd the seal releases the stored item.
417/400 words

The next fuuin in the book was also useful in Niku's desire to create a Sheath Seal that could be used to store weapons on her body. However, one can't simply tattoo themselves over and over until they get the fuuin right, so Niku had to be a bit more creative. In truth, the idea of the fuuin stood whether it was on paper or skin, so Niku decided to practice with scrolls. When the time came for her to actually get a fuuin tattooed onto her body, she would have a professional do it. Using the book as a guide, Niku began drawing the seal onto the scroll. Like the last fuuin she trained in this manner, she made four copies before testing them. She took note of the intricate pattern, the components that were similar to the last storage technique she learned, and the ones that were different. In truth, she didn't care much for this specific technique, she just wanted to use it as a base for a more technique better suited to her fighting style.

Once she was done with that, she went through the string of hand seals. She wanted to ensure she had them right before she went to the training ground to practice. Once she was confident that she'd gotten the string done perfectly, she headed to the training ground with her four scrolls that contained the Tattoo fuuin. After arriving, she pulled four kunai from her satchel before removing it and placing it on the ground. She pulled the first scroll open, using a few stones from the ground to hold it in place. She placed a kunai atop the fuuin and dropped the other three nearby. She then went through the practiced string of hand seals that she memorized from the book and watched as the kunai slid into the fuuin, seemingly disappearing from our plane of existence. She then did the next hand seal, causing the seal to go dormant. She repeated the process three more times, sealing all of her kunai into the fuuins.

That was half of the use of the fuuinjutsu. The other half (arguably the more useful half) was retrieving the weapons from the fuuin. She stepped up next to one of the fuuin and did the hand seal for chakra kai, causing the kunai to pop back into our plane of existence. She repeated the process for the other three, pleased with the technique and the progress she was making with fuuinjutsu.
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Post by Servant » Fri Jan 17, 2020 6:24 pm

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Fuuinjutsu • Sheath Tattoo
C-Rank Storage Fuuinjutsu
Prerequisite:
*Fuuinjutsu • Tattoo, *Fuuinjutsu • Minor Weapon Defense, [Fuuinjutsu • Blade Storage]
Like Blade Storage, this fuuin holds a single weapon up to 30 inches in length. Like Tattoo, the fuuin is tattooed onto Niku's skin. And like Minor Weapon Defense, Niku can open the seal by holding a single, one-handed handseal. This flexibility of opening and closing the seal allows Niku to draw the blade from within the fuuin as if it were held tightly in a sheath which allows her to utilize Iaido techniques at full capacity and 'resheath' them as needed.
600/580 words

Now that Niku felt like she had learned enough fuuin, she had decided to try her hand at creating her Sheath Tattoo fuuin. She'd been instructed and aided in all of the other fuuin she'd learned, but this one was going to be all her. It was her competitive spirit that geared her towards creating the fuuin all on her own. It would boost her confidence in her ninja skills if she could create her own C rank fuuin. In front of her, she had all three of the fuuin that she wanted to incorporate into this new fuuin: Blade Storage, Tattoo, and Minor Weapon Defense. All three were storage fuuin, so the similarities were pretty noticeable. She wanted to retain Minor Weapon Defense's ability to be opened and closed with a one handed hand seal, as it lent itself to drawing the blade that Niku intended to store in the seal with the other hand. It might take some trial and error, but I'm sure I can make this work.

She began her own design similarly to Minor Weapon Defense as she wanted the fuuin to do much of what it did. The biggest thing was increasing the size, to accommodate the larger weapon being stored within the seal. That was easy enough, she thought to herself. In truth, she realized, as she worked on the finishing touches of the fuuin, that Blade Storage and Tattoo were incredibly similar techniques, just using a different medium. As she finished, she stood up to admire her work. She had no idea if it would work as she intended, but there was only one way to find out.

The kunoichi pulled her sword out of its sheath, placing it carefully atop the fuuin she'd just drawn. She took a step back, took a deep breath, and then did the single one handed hand seal necessary to open the seal, which, she hoped, would allow the sword to be sucked into it. She held the seal as the sword fell halfway into the seal, it's hilt seemingly not fitting into the seal. With the hand not holding the seal, Niku grabbed her sword, worried that if she let go of the hand seal, the seal would cut her sword in half. Alright, not too bad for a first try, she thought to herself, crumpling up and discarding the scroll.

Without hesitation, Niku sat down and began creating her second attempt. Her brush strokes seemed more purposeful and her hand more steady as she worked quickly. Moments later, she once again placed her sword atop a completed fuuin. "Take two," she said aloud as she once again did the handseal. This time, the sword disappeared completely into the seal. Releasing the hand seal, Niku moved forward, picking the scroll up. "Yes!" she half screamed. Pleased with the progress, Niku went about copying the seal onto another scroll, just in case of mistakes during practice. Despite the notion that fuuin were a branch of ninjutsu, this particular fuuin was designed to be utilized with taijutsu. That meant she had to practice using it in that manner.

Strapping the scroll to her waist, Niku stood at the ready. With the her left hand, she made the one handed hand seal which would open the fuuin while her right hand reached out to remove the blade stored within. It was a different feeling to drawing a blade from a sheath, but not too dissimilar. She was sure that with more practice, she could perform any Iaido technique from the fuuin just as she had from the sheath.
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Post by Servant » Thu Jan 23, 2020 3:20 pm

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[Iaido • Freeform]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Prerequisite: [Acrobatics] concentration
Having grown accustomed to acrobatic maneuvers, Niku is able to perform any Iaido draw from inconceivable positions. No matter what position her body is in, she is capable of releasing attacks without any detriment to her aim or speed. In addition, rapid adjustments such as dodging or spinning has no effect on her aim.
418/400 words

With the incorporation of acrobatic maneuvers to Niku's fighting style, she felt it necessary to practice using her Iaido draws even in the midst of those maneuvers. Flipping and jumping would allow Niku to evade opponent's attacks, which is why she'd begun utilizing them, but they also could be used to heighten her unpredictability which would allow her to confuse enemies more easily. If Niku could throw an enemy off balance with movements alone, it'd be easier to take them down with an Iaido draw, but that was a moot plan of attack if she always had to stop moving, place herself at the appropriate distance, and then draw her sword from her hip. If she could draw her blade mid-flip, for example, then she'd be much more deadly than otherwise.

Niku leaped over the training dummy, turning her body as she did so. With her right hand, she draw the blade from her left hip. The blade sliced through the dummy's straw head as Niku continued flipping and rotating, her attempt at resheathing was a miss though. The act of rotating her body while also twisting it to keep her opponent in front of her, aiming her draw and resheathing the blade into the perpetually moving sheath was proving more troublesome than the kunoichi had expected. Once her feet were firmly on the ground and her movement halted, she easily returned her blade to its proper position in its sheath.

After a deep breath, she once again moved towards the dummy, she pushed off the ground, spinning her body while also throwing her feet over her head. At the proper moment, she drew the blade with lightning speed, destroying the head that once stood atop the dummy's straw filled shoulders. As her body continued its rotations, she sheathed the blade just a moment before her feet hit the ground. She landed gracefully, rolling backwards to settle into a position that was ready for more combat, if necessary. The act had proven a success - she just had to bang that capability into her body until she could do it every time without even thinking about it.

Niku continued practicing, flinging herself into the air in all sorts of flips, spins and twists. Sometimes, she'd miss her target and sometimes she'd miss returning the blade to its sheath, or sometimes both. As time went on, she found herself succeeding more often than she failed and eventually, she was able to succeed in hitting her target and resheathing every time.
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Post by Servant » Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:01 pm

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[Iaido • Freestyle Draw]
B-Rank Taijutsu Discipline
Having practiced extensively at drawing from unconventional places, Niku has mastered the ability to perform an Iaido draw from anywhere on her person (assuming there is a sheath to draw from). This allows her much more variety in her draws than traditional Iaido.
411/400 words

Even with the added ability to draw in the midst of a flip, Niku worried that her 'traditional' Iaido was too easily read and understood by opponents. As long as the opponent could determine where Niku's hips and sheathes were located, they could determine where the sword would come from, she theorized. If that happens, no matter how many flip draws or twist draws or how much speed she has, Niku knew that she'd fail to cut her enemy down. Failing that, quite possibly, could lead to her own death and the young kunoichi felt like she still had things left to do in her life.

For that reason, Niku had borrowed some straps and had proceeded to strap her hilts to different parts of her body. She had one sheath strapped to her left forearm so that the hilt sat just next to her wrist. Another sheath was strapped to her right leg so that the hilt protruded just above her knee. She had another sheath strapped to her back so that the hilt sat just above her right shoulder. The final sheath was attached to her left thigh so that the hilt rested to the side of her butt. None of these positions were 'traditional' and none of them would be easy for the girl to draw from, but she knew that with practice, she could learn to utilize her swords from all sorts of new angles and directions, thrusting her capabilities to kill her opponents through the roof.

Stepping up to the dummy, Niku's right and left hands moved towards each other in front of her; her right hand slid past the left, grabbing the hilt of the blade strapped to her left arm. With unskilled technique, Niku drew the blade forward towards the dummy. She purposely attempted to resheath the blade at a speed much slower than the draw as to be sure not to hurt herself. The young kunoichi spent the rest of the day drawing from the different sheaths littered across her body. Even with her considerable experience with Iaido, it still took her a large majority of the day to really grasp the speed and timing necessary to resheath a blade at the level necessary to feel like it could be used in a real combat situation. However, by the day's end, Niku was able to draw from any sheath at the same speed and skill as if they were drawn from her hip.
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Post by Servant » Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:04 pm

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Doton • Launched Floor
C-Rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisite:
Doton • Stone Path or advancement
After the necessary handseals, Niku will tap her foot to the ground, rushing more Doton chakra into the Stone Path created previously. Within the next 3 posts, Niku can cause one of the stones to launch about 1m into the air with a strength and speed of 10. However, if someone has more than 10 strength, they can resist being launched into the air. Of note, if the target resists being launched and their strength exceeds the strength of the stone (designated by the jutsu used to create it) then the stone will naturally break, sending debris into the air around the target.
344/300 words

Niku was overly excited about being able to utilize a B ranked doton technique, but even with that technique perfected, she still felt like she needed a more well rounded knowledge of lower level doton techniques. For that reason, she'd begun developing a technique that could be utilized with Stone Paths, the technique she'd created days earlier. The idea was simple, most shinobi can't fly like Niku can so launching them into the air would put them at an inherent weakness. A weakness, even if only momentary, that Niku could likely take advantage of. She was sure there would likely be people with a means of countering or avoiding the launching, but she would just have to deal with those opponents differently, if she encountered any.

With that, she did the string of handseals to create the Stone Path around her. The name was a little misleading, she admitted, as the stones didn't really create a path, but instead a square platform. Now that she had 'laid the groundwork', she began a different string of hand seals. After picking one of the corner stones, she watched as it seemingly cracked under the effects of Niku's chakra. A little perturbed at her own failure, Niku mentally went through another few sets of hand seals, before deciding on one. She physically did another string of hand seals, followed by tapping her foot to the earth. She then picked another stone which lay at the corner of her pattern. This time, the stone launched into the air, just as the kunoichi had intended. The stone reached its maximum height of a meter before falling back down into place.

Just to be sure, Niku did the hand seals once more, then tapped her foot and waited a moment. As if on cue, she rushed towards the stone that she intended to launch and then sent the stone into the air. With her hand, she grabbed the stone, swinging it around before throwing it at the dummy. The technique seemed to have a variety of uses, pleasing the girl.
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Post by Servant » Tue Feb 11, 2020 4:29 pm

Strength
1015/1000 words

Niku stood about 15 meters from her grandfather, both of them ready for a spar. After exhaling her breath, Niku rushed forward as quickly as her body was able. Her grandfather reacted to her movement and began moving towards her as well. Niku then realized the problem in a frontal assault: acceleration. Her grandfather was able to accelerate much more quickly than she was, meaning he was able to get to full speed and outmaneuver Niku. While their speeds and reactions were basically on par with each other, the elder gentleman was still able to accelerate more quickly than she could from a standing position. All of this led to the man's characteristic response to Niku "You're too weak." Of course, he couldn't deny that his granddaughter had made amazing strides and if she truly became stronger then she would likely outshine him completely. Though, he felt like that was just the sign of a good teacher.

Niku had realized that her physical strength was lacking and if she increased it, her ability to accelerate would also increase. It was a natural progression of her desire to use her speed to its fullest potential. For that reason, Niku had put her weighted gear back on, which consisted of two bracers, two shin pads and a belt. All in all, the weights were enough to slow the girl's speed down considerably, but getting her body strong enough to move that extra weight around would surely lead to heightened strength. It wasn't hard to move (as it had been when she originally received the weight stuff) but she still felt the extra weight after just a few moments.

After a warm up jog with a packed lunch to the nearest training ground, Niku began with simple exercises, she did 100 push ups, struggling a little by the end of it. Niku then rolled over and began doing sit ups. Her hands tucked behind her head caused each sit up to lift the extra weight that was attached to her arms. After 100 sit ups, she began doing some lunges, stretching her legs considerably until her knee touched the ground. Nearly an hour later, Niku could feel her body becoming fatigued. While her strength needed increasing, her stamina was also notably bad, but she could focus on that another day. After resting for a few minutes, Niku found a sturdy branch and began doing pull ups. She noticed that this particular exercise was bound to have positive effects as it forced her to lift the entirety of her weighted gear, unlike some of the other exercises. After 50 pull ups, Niku needed another break... her arms were beyond sore.

The kunoichi decided to partake in the picnic she'd brought for herself. Of course, she didn't remove the weights that she was wearing, so even picking up her sandwich worked as a strength work out, to some degree. She ate and looked around, her lower body creating a square with the ground and a tree, her back leaning against her tree and her knees bent at a ninety degree angle. The pose put a strain on her body, but also created a decent lap for her to use as a table while eating. She wondered how long she would need to train like this before she saw an improvement, but she knew training wasn't just a magic spell that instantly made you better. It took time to show true improvement.

After lunch, Niku decided to utilize a different type of work out. Rather than doing simple exercises designed to improve physical strength, Niku was going to build something that required the use of her strength. Combining that tactic with the weights she was wearing, she was sure it would provide her body with the necessary strain to push her body further along. She found a heavy rock and placed her body next to it. The thing was nearly four times her size, but Niku squatted next to the stone and shuffled her hands underneath it on opposing sides. With her legs, back and arms working in tandem, Niku lifted the rock from its place and began waddling forward into the middle of the training ground. The weight wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been, finding the balance issue to be more troublesome than the strength necessary to carry it. She placed the stone about five feet from the dummy on a portion of the ground which was mostly flat.

She moved back to the wall of stones that lay just off of the training ground. She wasn't sure, but she assumed they had been littered through the training ground upon its creation and had been moved to the side in order to make a more suitable place for youngsters to train. She found another rock which was larger than the last one. She figured since the last stone had been relatively easy to lift, then she should move on to a larger and heavier rock. Squatting next to the rock, Niku placed both hands as far apart as her arms would allow, slowly gripping the rock's rough exterior. Standing back up and leaning back a bit, Niku successfully lifted the stone from the ground, even providing enough room in front of her legs to walk... sort of.

She returned to the first stone, hefting the second one even higher upon her body, shimmying it up to her waist before going another step until the stone rested on her chest. She moved forward, carefully setting the second stone atop the first. She released her grip, feeling the rock's weight shift under the pull of gravity. She continued to adjust the rock with small twists and turns until she was sure that it wouldn't slide off of its perch. With her work done, Niku eventually stepped back to admire the stack of rocks. She returned to the rocks and picked up a third stone, hefting it over her head. Carrying it, the kunoichi made her way over to her stack, carefully placing the third stone at the top.
Last edited by Servant on Mon Mar 02, 2020 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Servant » Mon Mar 02, 2020 9:10 pm

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[Iaido • Buzzsaw Draw]
A-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: [Projectile Weapons] concentration, [Iaido • Cleaving Draw]
Utilizing the basics of Iaido to draw her sword at immense speeds and the basics of projectile weapons, Niku will draw her blade and release mid-draw, sending it hurtling through the air at an enemy. Because of the way in which she releases, the sword spins with immense speed (equal to the speed of the draw) with the cutting potential of (strength+speed)/2. It moves forward at a speed equal to Niku's strength and, like the prerequisite, is able to cut through weapons or armor which have less strength than the weapon's cutting potential.
782/700 words

Niku couldn't believe the weather the last week: the sun had refused to come out all week long. The rain had fallen for 5 days straight and even after it stopped, the grey clouds never dissipated enough for the sun's rays to shine through. The day after, the rain came back. The weather literally rained on Konoha and metaphorically rained on Niku's desire to train. There were only so many things she could work on inside and after three days, she was tired of those too. Now, with the eight day without sun dawning, Niku didn't care what the weather had in store for her: she was going to train a new Iaido tech. Ever since she'd started utilizing projectiles, Niku had considered an Iaido technique that used the sword as a thrown weapon and now she was going to work on creating it.

As the water fell all over and around her, Niku stood about 40 meters from the training dummy. The idea, as was customary with most Iaido techniques, was that she'd draw the blade from it's sheath, however, rather than a standard slash, Niku would release the blade causing it to cut and fly forward as a projectile. The idea was, honestly, quite simple, but she worried that the execution would be more tricky. She took a few deep breaths before quickly reaching her right hand towards her sword's handle which extended from the hilt on her left hip. Her hand moved forward as her muscles were used to, drawing the blade at speeds that most people wouldn't be able to see. Her grip lessened before she finally released the grip entirely, allowing the blade to fly forward. Her perceptive eyes watched as the blade lazily spun around its own hilt.

The sword's hilt struck the dummy, causing the blade to turn more quickly than before. With a sigh of failure, Niku torqued her neck to the right causing it to crack once. She then took another breath and once again drew her sword with Iaido's characteristic lightning speed. This time, Niku released the blade with more of a flick of her wrist, attempting to get the weapon to rotate more quickly. She hoped that if the sword spun with enough ferocity, it would be able to cut through defenses and opponents with ease. Her first attempt lacked the rotational speed needed to cause that kind of damage.

Her second attempt, with the flick of her wrist, provided the blade with much more spin causing the weapon to appear more disc-like as it swirled through the air. The sword eventually hit the dummy, slicing its hay filled body in half before lodging itself into the dirt behind it. She wasn't completely happy with the attack, but it was definitely an improvement over the first attempt. She stepped back and readied her arm once again before drawing the third blade, this time from her right hip using her left arm. She attempted to replicate her second attempt's flick of the wrist, but she decided that it was a little off, as she watched the blade swirl through the air with a noticeable gap in its disc-like appearance. Her wrist flick had been inadequate, causing the blade to spin unevenly.

This was definitely trickier than other techniques that she'd created and would definitely take more practice on her part to perfect. After retrieving her weapons, Niku moved back to her original position. Of course, the dummy was already in pieces, but she was more concerned with her projectiles' path than any prospective damage done to an opponent. She readied herself mentally before reaching for the hilt of her weapon. With practiced movements, Niku unsheathed the weapon, flicking her wrist mid swing and releasing the blade. It flew through the air like one of her chakram, ready to cut anything in its path. Without waiting to see how the sword fared on the remaining pieces of the dummy, Niku drew another blade from the opposite hip. It too rushed through the air forming a spinning disc of destruction.

With two blades hurtling towards the remains, she jumped forward, performing an acrobatic flip with a half twist. Before her feet returned to the ground, Niku's hand flashed down to the hilt on her hip. The blade, in a near perfect rotation, flew towards a nearby tree as Niku landed gracefully. She watched as the blade easily sliced through the thick tree before becoming lodged into a third tree's trunk. The tops of both dismembered trees toppled over, making a distinctive noise. If I got my strength up, I could take down a whole forest, she mused to herself as she retrieved her weapons.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:03 pm

Strength - 1015/1000 words

Niku took her time as she lowered herself into the water. She had learned how to swim, of course, but she still found being submerged in water to be rather stressful. She'd even borrowed a rebreather from Tenzin Sensei so that she could breathe underwater. She placed it in her mouth, dipping her face under the water's surface to ensure it was working. Once satisfied, she released her iron grip on the ladder, allowing her body to sink through the water to the lake's bottom. She moved her right arm, testing the water's resistance as well as trying to determine if she really needed the weights on her arms, legs, and waist. She knew that out of all of her physical capabilities, strength was the weakest so she decided to continue the workout with the added weights.

She started with basic workout type stuff to give herself an opportunity to get used to this new environment. She got down and did fifty push ups, then stood and did fifty jumping jacks, followed by fifty lunges. She then repeated that set of exercises ten more times, totaling 500 push ups, 500 jumping jacks, and 500 lunges. Despite the water being more dense than air, it also provided more resistance against each movement. After she was done with her warm up, she decided to try some running drills. She was quite familiar with these as her grandfather had put her through many during her years of speed training. Niku theorized that the difference between the water and air, where she normally did these drills, would cause the exercise to be much more of a strength exercise. Acceleration is based on strength, after all.

She settled on suicide drills, a drill designed specifically to increase her acceleration speed as you had to stop and start often. Finding a few notable rocks, a shell, and some sort of debris from a weapon, likely a spear, Niku set up the items about 10 meters apart. She then headed to one end and took a deep breath through the rebreather and then pushed off the lake's sandy bottom. The start wasn't terribly graceful, but Niku's body pushed through the water, forcing her to use all of her strength to get moving in something resembling a run. Arriving at one of the pre-setup rocks, Niku slowed, putting her hand to the ground and then pushed off the ground, going in the opposite direction. Once again, Niku's body needed all of her strength to get her moving through the water accordingly. Her weights prevented Niku from going into a full on swim, though swimming would likely be easier, but not help my training much. She continued the suicide drill, running about 250 meters before taking a break.

As Niku reminisced about the training, she also realized that the water seemingly heightened her momentum, continuing to push her forward even after she'd tried to stop. In truth, the girl was creating a current and the water that came in behind her kept flowing in her original direction. This, completely by accident, caused Niku to use more strength to stop and withstand the water's force before pushing through the current to go back in the opposite direction. Sometimes, in training, you get lucky and sometimes, your training just doesn't work as intended. This time, Niku had gotten lucky.

After a short break, Niku decided to do more suicide drills. She was pleased with how the drill had worked, she just wanted to keep up the momentum. She bent down, placing her fingers in the sand and pushed off with all her might. Through the first set of running drills, Niku had gotten much more graceful at this underwater running. Her body moved through the water something like a gazelle, her strides slightly longer than they would be if she weren't submerged in water. She reached the first marker, bending down and sliding to a stop with her feet and hand burying themselves in the sand. As her forward momentum came to a complete stop, Niku pushed off in the opposite direction than she had been moving. She stopped again as she reached the beginning, once more sliding to a stop and accelerating off in the opposite direction.

Niku's mind wandered as her body kept up the action of accelerating and stopping, both activities that required a lot of strength which was good because that was where Niku felt the weakest, at least, in regards to her physical abilities. She knew that she was still barely above genin in regards to her ninjutsu and her genutsu skills were incredibly poor, but she intended to increase those capabilities later. Her grandfather's training had always been geared towards increasing speed and awareness, as those were often the most important aspects of Iaido. Now that she had grown quite skilled in Iaido, she felt like increasing her strength was absolutely necessary to the style at large. A cloud of sand surrounded Niku as she slid to a stop, the last one in this set of suicides. She burst out of the cloud trying to end the drill with all her strength, doing any less wouldn't benefit her abilities at all.

Nearly a week later, Niku, having gained more comfort in the water, jumped into the water with a big splash. She sank to the bottom, re-entering the world she'd been training in all week. The kunoichi had grown to appreciate the time isolated from others but, more importantly, she was pleased with the chance to increase her strength with relative ease. Stacking giant rocks and lifting small mountains were fine and good, but this training was much simpler for her to do. Niku began her drill, accelerating at full speed towards the marker, placing her hand to the ground and abruptly slowing to a stop. She turned back to her starting position and rushed forward, stirring up some sand as she went. She dug deep into her body and kept going as quickly as she could muster, hoping to increase her chances of becoming one of Konoha's famous shinobi.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Thu Apr 23, 2020 3:29 pm

Control x5 - 2501/2500 words

The clouds covered the sky, leaving the world grey and darker than most other days. Despite the darkness, there was no rain or lightning though there was a good deal of wind, making the temperature feel a bit cool. Even with the weather as it was, Niku wasn't the only one out attempting to hone her skills. Sounds of fellow shinobi grunting as they sparred with all their might a hundred yards away. While it could be distracting to some, Niku felt glad knowing that other people's Will of Fire was still burning strong. Her back leaned against the tree, her bottom on the ground, her legs crossed, her eyes closed and her mind focusing on the chakra that swirled through her body.

While Niku had learned the most basic level of Mind's Eye, she knew that her limited range was practically useless on its own. She was also aware that her chakra control limited her advancement in that skill set. If she could more adequately control her chakra, then she could increase the range. That was she was in this meditative state. She was working on controlling the energy throughout her body. She dammed up chakra in her midsection, lessening the flow as it moved towards her legs. With the mass of chakra growing, she slowly moved it throw the circulatory system. An observer would be able to see a faint yellowish light moving around Niku's body as the amount of chakra had grown so massive that even those lacking in sensory skills could see its power emanating from the kunoichi. Of course the color would give indicate that the girl had some sort of unique chakra.

This type of training was hard for Niku for two reasons: first, she generally found ninjutsu and chakra control more difficult than physical training, but secondly, her lack of experience in these arts made her wonder about the efficacy of the training. She didn't want to waste her time training if it wasn't going to actually increase her skills. She could use that time doing other things, like strength training. Despite those reservations, the chuunin sat under the tree slowly moving a mass of chakra through her body. She exerted her own control on the energy that usually ran its course on its own.

She sat, practically ignoring the sounds coming from her fellow Konoha shinobi training nearby, focusing intently on the mass of chakra as she moved it through her body. As the ball of energy got too large, Niku would let some out, like releasing water from the dam. The surge of chakra would flow quickly at first as the energy settled and evened out with the chakra that it had joined. The girl wondered if she should attempt to separate the mass of chakra into two masses and slowly move them further apart. She felt like it would be a beneficial addition to the training, but she was still struggling with this much so there was no need to complicate the training at this point. Simply exerting her will over the chakra was good enough training for the kunoichi at this point.

A few days later...
Niku once again found herself under the tree at the training ground and once again there were other shinobi practicing their skills near by. Niku couldn't help but grin as she saw one kid practicing Iaido draws. On this day, the sun was out and the breeze was pleasant, Niku noted, as she sat down by the tree. She'd been coming here the last few days, doing the same control training. She still wasn't convinced that it was helping her increase her sensory range, but she was hopeful. With eyes closed and legs crossed, Niku began focusing on her the chakra as it flowed through her body. In her near meditative state, Niku's chakra was smooth and docile as it circulated around her body. She began damming it near her right arm, causing the chakra to build up. It wasn't a terribly complicated task for someone with Niku's level of control, but it was still something she was proud of learning.

As the amount of chakra grew in her hand, Niku began focusing on the chakra in her left hand. She tried damming her chakra in two places, something she'd never done before. She knew this wouldn't help with jutsu or anything, but strengthening her ability to control chakra would be useful. She allowed both masses of energy to grow, though the one on her right was still notably larger. She intended to alter the flow of chakra so that the two masses were of equal size, but the idea of trying to loosen the dam in her right hand, to allow more chakra through, and tightening the dam in her left hand, to grow the amount of chakra there, felt akin to tapping the top of her head and rubbing her belly at the same time. She took a moment just to relax, allowing the chakra to pool even more.

Niku then began trying to loosen the dam in her right hand, allowing that mass to shrink somewhat. As it approached the size of the of the mass of energy in her left hand, she once again tightened the dam. Once both collections of energy were roughly the same size, Niku let out a deep breath. She then began moving both masses of chakra through her body, transferring the one from her right hand to her midsection while the other mass moved down to her foot. She then allowed the two masses to pass one another near her stomach, pushing one to her head and the other replaced the first mass of energy in her foot.

Moving two masses in this fashion was surprisingly more tiring than Niku had expected. She chalked the tiredness up to having so little chakra flowing through her body compared to normal, but she couldn't be sure. Niku then moved the two masses back to her midsection, before releasing both dams at once. The chakra surged in all directions at once, causing a strong, warm feeling to flow through Niku's body. She rested while her chakra settled back into its normal rhythm and flow.

A few days later...
Now that Niku had been training her control for over a week, she wanted to see how much she had grown. The easiest way that came to mind was practice ninjutsu techniques and see if they were more potent than they had been previously. That was one of the basic principles of ninjutsu that she'd been taught in the Academy, more chakra control meant more powerful techniques. She stood about eight feet from the tree she'd been using for her control training and began channeling doton chakra to her foot. She then slammed her heel to the ground, causing earth to shoot up from the ground and bind the dummy's Senju-hardened wooden legs. Niku, having learned to gauge speed through sight alone knew that the rocks had just shot out from the ground at a speed of 17, not much faster than Niku's previous attempts, but enough to show that her training was paying off.

With that confirmation, Niku moved back to the tree and sat down. She was glad that all this work wasn't being wasted. She closed her eyes and began focusing on the chakra flowing within her system. It wasn't a huge amount of chakra, she knew that already, but she felt like it was sufficient for a kenjutsu reliant shinobi. She felt the chakra flowing and began damming it up in multiple places. She made three small masses of energy, one at her midsection and one at each hand. She hadn't tried this before, but it had gone pretty well for a first attempt. She began slowly moving all three chakra balls around, taking care not to have them collide with one another. It wasn't that them colliding would be dangerous or anything, it was just another exercise in control.

After a few minutes of moving the energy around her body, she decided to amass two of the masses together. She wanted to do so in a controlled fashion, so as to prevent too much chakra from escaping the dam she'd created. As two masses neared, she felt them pulling towards each other but was able to keep them from overpowering her. Eventually, she lessened the dam on the second one, slowly allowing chakra from the second mass to enter the first, meanwhile she also strengthened the dam on the first to ensure the excess chakra didn't break or overflow the dam. While she did that, she also maintained the third ball of chakra. It actually went rather smoothly and Niku now had two masses with vastly different amounts of chakra in them. To conclude the training, she moved both masses of chakra to her midsection and allowed them to merge together. Once that had been done, she allowed all of the chakra free reign throughout her body, causing it to even back out to its normal level and flow. She took a deep breath, pleased with how her abilities were developing.

A few more days later...
Niku focused on the chakra within her body as she sat atop her bed. She'd taken care of some errands: buying more kunai amongst other things. For that reason, she hadn't had time to train her chakra control, so rather than her usual spot, she was training atop her bed. With eyes closed and legs crossed, Niku allowed the chakra to flow of its own accord. She then began damming the chakra, as on would when attempting to channel chakra for a jutsu. Of course, she was just practicing her ability to control the chakra at her whim. She moved the mass through her body, as some jutsu required chakra at the hand and others required them at her feet, especially Doton techniques. After moving the mass of chakra all around her body, Niku made another dam, amassing another ball of energy within her chakra circulatory system. From there, the young kunoichi moved the two masses through her body, exerting her will on the energy that allowed her to be a shinobi in the first place.

Doing these exercises led Niku to reflect on memories of Tenzin Sensei, the man who'd helped Niku. In the Academy, they'd taught Niku about chakra and, under their guidance, she'd been able to make some headway and graduate. But Niku never felt comfortable with the skill, until she met Tenzin. It was his positive reinforcement and confidence in her ability that allowed Niku to make incredible advancements in both chakra control and ninjutsu. He was the one who taught her about damming chakra rather than willing it to move unnaturally. Damming made far more sense for the girl and she'd been utilizing that method ever since. The two masses passed each other in her midsection as she consciously returned to her training.

Niku then decided to really challenge herself, with two masses of chakra already created, she formed two more dams. She slowly built the new balls of energy until all four were relatively equal in size. It was definitely a challenge to control all four, but Niku was glad to have a challenge. She began moving the masses around her body, circulating them through her system. Some times she would make one go faster, until it caught up with one of the other balls, then she'd speed up that one. She kept moving all four around her body, utilizing her control in various ways. Feeling the day's exhaustion catch up to her as well as the training's exhaustion began to settle in, Niku allowed two of the masses to merge before doing so with the other two masses. Now with two extremely large masses, she moved them both to her midsection before allowing them to merge. With all that energy in one place, Niku allowed the energy to escape its confines and rush out into her body, flooding her body with warmth and vitalization.

Even later...
Niku was glad to be out training once again. She decided to utilize her newfound Control for actual jutsu rather than simple chakra mastery. Her hands did their handseals, swiftly moving through the appropriate ones before a ball about the width of a meter formed in front of her. She then launched the ball of dirt forward with all the Control she could muster. This technique was particularly useful to Niku as she could determine how quickly the ball moved through the air thanks to her Master of Speed technique. That alone allowed her to better judge how well she could control her chakra as the ball moved faster as she got better with Control. This ball of dirt, she noted, moved at a speed around 19. Arguably, this wasn't fast enough, Niku could quite literally run circles around the projectile dirt ball, but she dismissed the negative thoughts as the ball exploded after hitting the tree, expanding rapidly and blocking the view of the tree quite well.

There were other things she wanted Control for, her ninjutsu would never be fast enough to be a problem for her to evade, but she'd failed to learn the next technique in Sensory. It had been theorized by a senior sensor within Mamorinuku that she lacked the chakra control to perform the technique she'd been practicing, hence her failure. If she could continue to improve her capability in this field, she could improve her sensing abilities which could be useful for her. Knowing where opponents are was always beneficial to a swordsman such as Niku. She went through another string of handseals as she leaped over a fallen tree; she wanted to not only have Control, but also be able to use it in the midst of battle and moving. After she finished the seals, another ball of dirt formed in front of the moving kunoichi. She launched it off at another tree before rolling to a stop.

She watched as the ball of dirt once again flew at a speed of 19 towards a tree, expanding once contact was made. The more she used the technique in practice, the more she felt it could be quite useful for her in combat. The dirt cloud performed its function, creating a large volume of dirt in the air. Momentarily, she wondered if this type of training would provide benefit, but she kept moving. She opted for a different technique, channeling chakra to her foot despite her steps. Once the amount of chakra was sufficient, Niku stomped her heel to the ground, leaning forward into a round off. She looked forward at the target as a formation of rock rushed out of the ground around a stump, encapsulating it as if binding it to the ground. She noted the speed of the rock had also been 19, but the kunoichi wasn't going to give up trying to increase her skills.
Last edited by Servant on Tue May 12, 2020 10:53 am, edited 5 times in total.
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:21 pm

Niku had arrived to Cha Outpost, situated on the border of Fire and Tea Countries, the day before. Now, she had gone out to explore, and hopefully find the dojo where her grandfather had been trained. She hoped to find that one because he had told her of the infamous Reincarnation Draw, a technique so special that few were even capable of mastering the skill. Her grandfather, despite his prodigious skill with a blade was unable to learn the skill, even after 50 years of training and practice. In the kenjutsu world, the highest, most prized skill in a style was called the Ougi. Niku had traveled this far to learn Iaido's Ougi, the Reincarnation Draw.

She arrived at one dojo, it was the first one she'd come to. She wasn't sure if this was the one, but she only had so much to go on and the things her grandfather remembered from over 40 years ago were questionable. Then there was all the things that had changed in that time span, it made the identifying of a specific dojo nearly impossible. Buildings that had been built had since been destroyed, towns that were once prosperous were gone... or turned into cities with so much activity that using them as landmarks was more akin to a guessing game than any sort of logical conclusions. There wasn't even a guarantee that this Tanomoshii fellow was still alive, or capable of teaching Niku the Ougi anyways... Regardless, Niku felt like she had only one clear path, challenge every dojo she came across until she found one that could teach her the Ougi.

She stepped inside, her four swords clearly prominent on her hips. There were only four people inside, three of them practicing draws while the fourth enjoyed some food in the corner, at a table. The one eating noticed the girl first. "Hey," his mouth still had crumbs around his mouth. He was about to mention that it wasn't time for class, but taking the girl in, his trained eyes could tell she was no novice interested in learning. "What can we do for you?"

Niku looked him over as well, the three practicing were capable students, but not pinnacle of the art by any means. She wondered if they were instructors for the dojo, before turning back to the one who seemed the most capable. While his mouth was covered in crumbs, his stance was also one that left no openings. If Niku moved to attack, she was sure he'd avoid the attack, possibly returning with a blow of his own. "I'm looking for a Tanomoshii-san," the girl announced. She wasn't sure if she should tell them why she wanted to find the man, but she was fairly certain the man in front of her wasn't him. He should be roughly the same age as her grandfather and this man couldn't be more than 45.

"No one by that name in this dojo," the man answered, his shortness seeming to indicate that he didn't want to offend or draw out their interaction any more than he had to.

NIku's demeanor lightened, a small smile spreading across her face as her shoulders loosened and her gaze left the man, looking towards the dojo at large."I understand, could you maybe point me towards his dojo?"

The man didn't lighten up nor did he loosen his stance. "Never heard of him." His response was short, but not impolite. Niku's hands went into the air, a measure to show she had no ill intentions. The man seemed to be telling the truth, so Niku wasn't going to cause any trouble for them.

"Alright, I'll let you all get back to business, thank you for your time." The kunoichi backed up, reaching the door before turning and exiting through it. The three who'd been practicing, all but dropped their swords, and rushed over to the man who'd spoken to Niku. Even from outside, Niku's enhanced hearing allowed her to hear what they were saying. The man who'd spoken told the others that she was extremely strong and that he wouldn't have stood a chance against her. The other three, being relatively weak in comparison to the man who stood before them, had trouble believing such a young girl could be as strong as he said. Niku's smile widened as she began heading out.

She began moving towards the next village at top speed, enjoying the cool, sea breeze on her face. Focusing on the breeze and other thoughts, she failed to notice a small rock in her path. The toes of her left foot hit the rock just right, causing her foot to get stuck momentarily. The lack of movement of the foot and her forward movement bringing her face closer to the ground brought her attention back to what she was doing. Without really comprehending what was going on, Niku realized that her face was no longer falling, but her feet weren't underneath her either. Glancing down her body, she realized that her feet were behind her, she was still moving at max speed, but doing so without actually touching the ground.

"Holy shit!" burst from the girl's mouth before she even realized she was about to say something. Almost as if instinctively, Niku realized that this was the power of the Yellow Dragon. She'd awakened her Yellow Dragon skills considerably, but it didn't come with an instruction manual and no one else could really teach her about the ability... so she hadn't really delved into her Yellow Dragon abilities. Now, it seemed, she was doing so without having meant to. She went skyward, What's the point in flying at ground level? she joked to herself as she was about 200 feet above the ground.

Everything below her was growing smaller as her altitude got higher. As she slowed her ascent down, she began just floating in midair. That was when doubt entered her mind. "I don't exactly know how to land." With the doubt came a sense of fear and unease which also caused her body to shake in the air, as if she were losing her ability to fly. "Oh shit! Oh shit!" Came her response as gravity once again took control of the girl's body. The kunoichi tried to calm down as the ground rushed at her with ever increasing speed.

Crash!

The body impacted the ground, causing a sound that could be heard all around. Niku lay on the ground, sure that her leg's were broken, likely some ribs and her spine too. If she weren't in shock, she'd have laughed that she was going to die like this. But, as she lay there waiting for the shinigami to come and take her to the next world, she realized the pain was gone. She moved her head the best she could and could see the small cuts sealing themselves up. Another few minutes later, she could feel her toes again, even wiggle them. After 20 minutes, Niku was standing, dusting herself off from the impact. "Ok, so I can fly and regenerate as if an iijutsu master had healed me. This Dragon thing has its benefits," she mused as she wondered what else she could do.

She spent the next few hours playing with her ability to fly: gaining altitude, spinning, barrel rolls, and practiced landing. She wouldn't go so far as to suggest that she was a professional now, but she had definitely grown much more accustomed to it and a crash like the first one was unlikely to happen again. She still wasn't confident that she had revealed all of her Dragon abilities, but she didn't know how to do that at this point, so she headed towards the next village as she had originally intended. It didn't take long before the kunoichi found another dojo to investigate.

Heading inside, Niku saw about a dozen 8 or 9 year olds with wooden swords. In front of them stood a woman likely the same age as Niku. She illustrated some of the basics and the children copied her movements. Niku could tell just from watching that the girl teaching wasn't an expert, just a higher practitioner than the children. She looked around for moment, watching the little ones practice, bringing her own training memories to mind. "Sorry bout the wait, what can we do for you?" A woman said as she approached from Niku's side.

Just with a glance, Niku could tell this woman was not a swordsman. She wasn't fat or out of shape or anything, she just didn't carry herself the way a swordsman would. Plus, she didn't have a sword... perhaps the biggest giveaway. "Hi, I was looking for someone of considerable skill to teach me Iaido." None of what Niku said was a lie, the fact that she already knew Iaido and was looking for a teacher for a specific technique felt like more detail than this woman needed at the moment. The woman, however, looked a little confused. Maybe it was the swords that Niku carried or the way posture she held, but the woman didn't seem to buy everything the kunoichi was saying.

"Well," the woman started, taking a pause already. She then gestured to the woman instructing currently "Mati-san, teaches the young ones, she'd been practicing for three years." Niku couldn't help but look at the instructor once more. She wasn't bad... per se, but knowing that she'd been practicing for three years and had only gotten to that level of skill meant she didn't have a proper teacher. "And my father, Yuukaku, has been practicing for 30 years. He is definitely who you're interested in learning from," she said with a smile on her face.

This man, Yuukaku, had likely been trained by someone and then left to his own devices. That was why his daughter's form and skill were so lacking. She smiled to the girl, but said "Thanks for your time, I'm going to keep looking elsewhere. Sorry to have troubled you." Niku began backing up, her smile still on her face.

"Oh don't leave, a young woman like yourself could really help us get more customers. Maybe you could teach some classes, my father would definitely take you as a disciple if you wanted." The woman seemed desperate, though Niku wasn't sure why. She simply waved it all off as she turned and bolted through the door. Once outside, Niku looked upward and flew into the sky. "Wait, please, we need your..." was all Niku heard as she flew away, the woman standing outside confused when she couldn't see the girl who'd just left her dojo.

This is proving more difficult than I'd expected. How will I ever find the right place? The chuunin was beginning to feel disillusioned about this whole endeavor and the chances of success. Seeing a collection of buildings in front of her, she slowed her flight, levitating 100 feet in the air. Ok, time to try again. She said to herself, trying to pump herself up and get into the right mood. She flew down and landed a hundred yards from the dojo and walked the rest of the way. She looked at the sign, reading it, then heading inside.

"Again?!" came the scream as the girl entered. She turned that direction only to see a man charging towards her. He drew his blade in an attempt to separate Niku's top half from her bottom half. She stepped to the side, instinctively, allowing the blade to slide past her, missing her by mere inches. Her eyes followed the man, as he stopped and turned, his blade already resheathed. He's not bad, not a master though. she mused as she stepped forward as the man began to draw his blade a second time. Niku's right hand went to the pommel of his blade, reaching the weapon before its sharpened edge could escape the sheath. Surprised at having his movements read and his motion stopped, Niku allowed her hand to slide off the weapon, grabbing the man's belt. She lowered her center of gravity as the man shifted his weight and used that shift to pull the man off balance, sending him to the ground, rolling forward.

Standing, the chuunin said "I'm not sure what I've walked into, but I don't want to cause any trouble." The man also got to his feet and a second man came forward, the two shared looks then the first man, who Niku had thrown to the ground, nodded. The chuunin wasn't entirely sure what they'd agreed to or what would happen next. "If you wanted me to leave, you could've just asked." She said, trying to ease the tension.

The first man stepped back, his hands in the air, "You're not with Chichi?" he asked, looking at her intently. Niku looked from man to man, unsure of how this was going to work out. While the man who'd spoken had raised his hands, she knew that with his skill level, he could have his hands back on the handle before he got close enough to draw the blade. It was a gesture of peace that didn't provide any real safety to the girl. She simply nodded her head in the negative, denying any relation to this Chichi.

"How can we trust you?" the second man finally spoke, obviously not trusting Niku's intentions at all. As if to earn that distrust, Niku rushed right at him. Neither man had expected the girl to rush forward given their numerical advantage, but she did just that. The second man took a step back, hoping to give himself enough time to draw his own blade, but the girl's speed was out of his expectation, though it also made him realize that she wasn't one of Chichi's lackeys cause she had no one with this sort of capability. The first man stepped to the side, preparing to slice the girl once she slowed to attack his partner. Niku tapped the second man on the forehead with just enough force to knock him off balance slightly. She then turned, towards the first man however she had seemingly underestimated her opponent because the flash of light hitting the unsheathed blade entered the girl's field of view. Instinctively, she held her arm up, as if her flesh would somehow be strong enough to stop an Iaido strike at full strength.

Surprisingly, the blade shattered as it hit Niku's arm, the tip flying past Niku's face. There was no pain in her arm, but both Niku and the one who'd attacked her backed up, ready for more action if necessary. The second man stopped the first from continuing, fully convinced this was not an associate of Chichi. Niku, realizing battle was over, looked to her arm, surprised to see yellow scales covering her arm. She realized that it was just one more of the Dragon's influences on her body. They were at least sturdy enough to withstand the samurai's attack, even shattering the blade. A slight smile covered her lips, So, scales more sturdy than a steel blade, flight and regeneration, I could totally get used to this Dragon business. She then looked to the two men, asking "So who's the master around here?" The men shared a glance once again before the second turned to Niku.

"We are the masters, neither outranking the other." The first man nodded in agreement of what the second had said. The news was not what Niku had wanted to hear. She would have preferred they told her of a master more renowned than any other and how to find him. Another strikeout. Daggum!

"I may know of a master suitable for you though." The second man stated. After a few more minutes and conversation, Niku headed out the door with some instructions on where to find another dojo and hopefully, a master of unrivaled ability. Niku had been to three dojos so far today alone and she'd only been in Tea Country for a couple days. All three of the dojos seemed to make a living teaching Iaido, but none of their masters could outmaneuver the Konoha chuunin. They all praised her skills and asked who her teacher was, but none of them were able to produce the Ougi that Niku had come to learn. The sun was already falling towards the horizon, lengthening all of the shadows as Niku entered another Iaido dojo. The students turned, wondering who the four sword carrying female was.

"Can we help you, Miss?"

Niku understood the man almost instantly. He taught beginners, that was obvious from the form of the students amassed around the teacher. He'd included Miss to the statement in order to lower her position in the eyes of all the students there. It didn't matter to her, she was focused on accomplishing her task. "I'm here to see if any of you can teach me the Reincarnation Draw." The statement went over the heads of students as their level of Iaido knowledge was extremely limited. Meanwhile, the teacher just laughed.

"Miss, you can't learn that technique until you're a full-fledged master of Iaido." Within 3 minutes, the teacher found himself half naked as his clothes had been shredded by the chuunin's Iaido strikes. She hadn't harmed the man physically, though he had been extremely humiliated. "Who... who is your master?" The man asked as he got up off the floor.

"Inken Satoshi."

A loud chuckle belted through the dojo, causing Niku to turn around in surprise. She hadn't noticed anyone else in the dojo, this man was almost definitely a master that rivaled her grandfather. "That fool sent you here?" Niku's face flushed red, someone insulting her master flared her anger to previously unknown proportions. She was about to rush this man when his hand flipped upward. "Oh miss, you misunderstand. Your..." the man seemed to have lost his train of thought before he continued "grandfather, I'd guess, is my sworn brother. He and I joined this dojo together and if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have nearly the skill I have today."

Niku realized that this man actually knew her grandfather. She was in the right place, this was the right person to teach her the skill her grandfather couldn't even master. "You..." Niku's excitement at finding the right place caused her to have trouble formulating her words. "You are Tanomoshii-san?" She finally asked.

"Oh, he told you about me. Come, let's leave these students to their lesson."

She'd finally succeeded in finding the man her grandfather had sent her to find... and he was going to teach her the technique she was here to learn. If all of that wasn't promising enough, Niku had also gotten a better grasp on her Yellow Dragon powers during this trip, truly a blessed trip indeed.
Last edited by Servant on Sun Sep 06, 2020 3:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
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  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
[color=#Fc0fc0]
Yamanaka Yaya
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The Lone Swordsman

Post by Servant » Wed May 13, 2020 3:28 pm

JutsuShow
*[Iaido Ougi • Reincarnation Draw]
S-Rank Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite(s): 39 Speed, Must be trained at the Tea Country Dojo or learned from someone who has trained it, 10 Iaido Kenjutsu techniques.
The ultimate Iaido technique requires speed that outright shatters human limitations and transcends to near god-hood. By momentarily torquing every single muscle in their body for a split second, the practitioner builds up an immense amount of force. They then release this force, dashing instantly to the opponent's location (up to a number of meters away equal to 4/5 the practitioner's Speed score, rounded down) and delivering a slash so fast that properly reading this attack requires the opponent to have a sight-based or sound-based Perception technique of equal or higher rank than this technique. Otherwise, the opponent will be completely unable to register the attack even happening or making contact. The dash itself is made with such explosive speed that it creates a massive 360-degree shockwave that follows the user to the end of their dash, pushing away anything from the practitioner within a number of meters equal to 4/5 the practitioner's Speed, rounded down, with a strength equal to 4/5 the practitioner's Strength score, rounded down, serving as a protection against reprisal should they somehow not connect with the attack. This technique cannot subvert obstacles or terrain and requires a relatively clear path to execute. The quasi-teleportation effect of this technique constitutes the use of one of the character's two teleportation uses per thread.
504/500 words

Niku had watched Tanomoshii perform the technique three times and it still boggled her mind as to how to perform it. No matter how fast one is, moving like that just seems ridiculously impossible. She took a moment to torque all her muscles and then dashed forward with all the force she could muster. Despite her attempt, she didn't seemingly disappear and reappear 30 meters away like Tanomoshii had. There also was a significant lack of shockwave as Niku had attempted the technique. Despite her grandfather's belief that she was capable of learning this technique, Niku was beginning to doubt herself. No wonder Grandfather had so much trouble, she mused as she prepared herself mentally to try again.

Niku once again settled herself and peered forward at her target, a mid-sized tree. It was about 25 meters away, not terribly far, as Tanomoshii had traveled well over 30 meters when he'd performed the technique. She began by torquing the muscles in her right foot, the one she intended to push off the ground with. She moved up the leg, readying each muscle individually before moving on to the next one. After she torqued her hips, she moved to her abdomen before moving on to her shoulders. Feeling like she'd wrung every fiber of every muscle in her body, she pushed forward. The world around her blurred as her visage disappeared from sight, her speed bypassing the realm of humanity. A large wave of energy spread out from her position, as if being dragged by an invisible force. The kunoichi reappeared next to the tree, as she had intended, drawing her blade, easily slicing the tree in to and replacing her blade to its sheath on her hip.

Her momentum carried her past the tree, as the weight of the top half of the tree began to slowly cause the dismembered thing to fall over. She turned to see her handiwork just in time to see the shockwave throwing dirt, debris, and the tree as if it were nothing. She couldn't believe that she'd finally done it, but the evidence was there; she'd seen it with her own eyes. She had to practice it again, a single time was a fluke... she had to use this feeling of success and push herself to master the skill before going home to show it to her grandfather. She took in another tree and began torquing her muscles once again.

The girl disappeared as her acceleration rocketed her through space at such a speed that she practically ceased to exist for a split second. Reappearing nearly 30 meters away, the girl reentered into reality as she slowed to speeds people could at least comprehend. Her blade, however, sliced through air and rock alike moving at speeds most shinobi couldn't perceive, let alone the average human. The path she'd taken was evident by the large dust cloud that formed as the air attempted to refill the area that Niku had left behind. It was definitely a spectacle to behold.
My Thread
Inken Nikuya
[color=#ffe135]
  • Seiryu - [color=#007FFF]
  • Suzaku - [color=#e62a09]
  • Genbu - [color=#80461B]
  • Byakko - [color=#007FFF]
Sadame Juusha
[color=#2888BD]
Imuka Makumi
[color=#Fc0fc0]
Yamanaka Yaya
[color=#3a6e38]
-

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